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''AfcfL^p- 


KSWYOftlt; 

FRANKLIN    SQUARE. 


"*W 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  In  the  year  1850,  by 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


PREFACE 


The  development  of  the  moral  sentiments  in  the 
human  heart,  in  early  life, — and  every  thing  in  fact 
which  relates  to  the  formation  of  character, — is  deter- 
mined in  a  far  greater  degree  by  sympathy,  and  by 
the  influence  of  example,  than  by  formal  precepts  and 
didactic  instruction.  If  a  boy  hears  his  father  speak- 
ing kindly  to  a  robin  in  the  spring, — welcoming  its 
coming  and  offering  it  food, — there  arises  at  once  in 
his  own  mind,  a  feeling  of  kindness  toward  the  bird, 
and  toward  all  the  animal  creation,  which  is  produced 
by  a  sort  of  sympathetic  action,  a  power  somewhat 
similar  to  what  in  physical  philosophy  is  called  induc- 
tion. On  the  other  hand,  if  the  father,  instead  of  feed- 
ing the  bird,  goes  eagerly  for  a  gun,  in  order  that  he 
may  shoot  it,  the  boy  will  sympathize  in  that  desire, 
and  growing  up  under  such  an  influence,  there  will  be 
gradually  formed  within  him,  through  the  mysterious 
tendency  of  the  youthful  heart  to  vibrate  in  unison  with 
hearts  that  are  near,  a  disposition  to  kill  and  destroy 
all  helpless  beings  that  come  within  his  power.    There 


vi  Preface. 


is  no  need  of  any  formal  instruction  in  either  case. 
Of  a  thousand  children  brought  up  under  the  former 
of  the  above-described  influences,  nearly  every  one, 
when  he  sees  a  bird,  will  wish  to  go  and  get  crumbs 
to  feed  it,  while  in  the  latter  case,  nearly  every  one 
will  just  as  certainly  look  for  a  stone.  Thus  the  grow- 
ing up  in  the  right  atmosphere,  rather  than  the  receiv- 
ing of  the  right  instruction,  is  the  condition  which  it 
is  most  important  to  secure,  in  plans  for  forming  the 
characters  of  children. 

It  is  in  accordance  with  this  philosophy  that  these 
stories,  though  written  mainly  with  a  view  to  their 
moral  influence  on  the  hearts  and  dispositions  of  the 
readers,  contain  very  little  formal  exhortation  and  in- 
struction. They  present  quiet  and  peaceful  pictures  of 
happy  domestic  life,  portraying  generally  such  conduct, 
and  expressing  such  sentiments  and  feelings,  as  it  is 
desirable  to  exhibit  and  express  in  the  presence  of 
children. 

The  books,  however,  will  be  found,  perhaps,  after  all, 
to  be  useful  mainly  in  entertaining  and  amusing  the 
youthful  readers  who  may  peruse  them,  as  the  writing 
of  them  has  been  the  amusement  and  recreation  of  the 
author  in  the  intervals  of  more  serious  pursuits. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAOK 

I. — Birds,  .                                                     ■     .  11 

II.— The  Grotto, 29 

III. — The  Inundation, 47 

IV. — Planning, 66 

V. — Carlo  Lost, 85 

VI. — Carlo  Found, 104 

VII.— Cordelia, 127 

VIII.— The  Wagon  Ride, 147 

IX. — Getting  Home,     .  .         .        .         .160 

X. — The  Drawing-School, 185 


ENGRAVINGS. 


PAGS 

The  Yard  at  Mary  Bell's — Frontispiece. 

The  Bank  Swallows, 17 

The  Grotto, 37 

Carlo, 53 

The  Launching,  ,  ....     83 

Go  Home,        . 88 

Vert  Savage, .     .  118 

The  Peak, .138 

The  Flag  of  Truce, 160 

Bringing  the  Boat,        .        .        .        .        .        .179 

The  Garden  Stone, 187 


FRANCONIA    STORIES 


ORDER  OF  THE  VOLUMES. 

MALLEVILLE.  RODOLPHUS. 

WALLACE.  ELLEN   LINN. 

MARY  ERSKINE.  STUYVESANT. 

MARY   BELL.  CAROLINE 

BEECHNUT.  AGNES. 


SCENE  OF  THE  STORY. 

Franconia,  a  place  among  the  mountains  at  the  North.    The 
time  is  summer. 


PRINCIPAL  PERSONS. 

Mrs.  Henry,  a  lady  residing  at  Franconia. 

Alphonzo,  commonly  called   Phonny,  her  son ;  nine  years 

old. 
Malleville,  Phonny's  cousin  from  New  York ;  seven  years 

old. 
Wallace,  Malleville's  brother,  a  college  student,  visiting 

Franconia  in  his  vacations. 
Mary#  Bell,  Malleville's  friend,  residing  -with  her  mother, 

in  a  retired  place  at  a- little  distance  from  Mrs.  Henry's. 

She  is  twelve  or  thirteen  years  old. 
Caroline,  a  young  lady  of  the  village,  nearly  of  the  same 

age  with  Mary  Bell. 
Parker,  a  village  boy. 
Antonio  Bianchinette,  commonly  called  Beechnut,  a  French 

boy,  about  thirteen  years  old,  living  at  Mrs.  Henry's. 


MARY   BELL 

Chapter   I. 
Birds. 


The  freshet.  A  bridge  carried  away. 

/^NE  summer  when  Malleville  was  about 
^^  eight  years  old,  and  Mary  Bell  a  little 
more  than  fourteen,  it  happened  that  in  the 
month  of  June  there  was  a  very  heavy  and 
long  continued  rain,  which  caused  the  river 
that  flowed  through  the  valley  in  front  of  Mrs. 
Henry's  house,  where  Malleville  lived,  to  over- 
flow its  banks,  and  spread  its  waters  in  every 
direction  over  the  meadows.  All  the  brooks, 
too,  which  descended  from  the  mountains  alone, 
became  roaring  torrents,  exhibiting  everywhere 
splendid  spectacles  of  white  cascades  among  the 
rocks,  and  boiling  whirlpools  in  the  eddies.  At 
one  place  where  a  brook  flowed  under  a  bridge, 
the  water  rose  so  high  as  to  lift  the  bridge  off 
from  its  abutments,  and  float  it  away  down  the 
Stream,     The  abutments  of  a  bridge  are  the  two 


12  Mary  Bell. 


Abutments.  Mrs.  Henry's  house ;— Mary  Bell's. 

structures  of  stone- work,  one  on  each  bank,  on 
which  the  ends  of  the  bridge  rest  for  support. 
The  workmen  usually  build  the  abutments  of 
bridges  as  high  as  they  suppose  is  necessary  to 
prevent  the  possibility,  even  in  the  highest 
floods,  of  the  structure  above  being  reached  by 
the  water.  The  abutments  proved,  however, 
not  to  be  high  enough  in  this  case,  and  the 
bridge  was  carried  away.  As  for  the  roads, 
they  were  in  many  places  entirely  overflowed, 
especially  when  they  passed  near  the  river.  At 
these  points  the  roads  were  for  a  day  or  two 
wholly  impassable. 

Mrs.  Henry's  house,  where  Malleville  lived 
at  this  time,  was  not  very  far  from  the  river, 
and  was  at  some  distance  above  the  village — 
perhaps  about  a  mile.  The  house  where  Mary 
Bell  lived  with  her  mother,  was  also  about  a 
mile  from  the  village,  by  a  back  road.  There 
was  a  sort  of  cross-road,  winding  pleasantly 
among  the  vallies,  which  led  from  near  Mrs. 
Henry's  to  Mary  Bell's. 

Malleville  had  had  an  invitation  to  go  and 
spend  the  afternoon  with  Mary  Bell,  just  at  the 
time  when  the  great  rain-storm  came  on.  The 
rain  prevented  her  going.  The  storm  which 
commenced   on    Tuesday,   continued   for  two 


Birds.  13 

Going  to  visit  Mary  Bell.  Swallows. 

days,  and  then  Malleville  was  obliged  to  wait 
one  day  more  for  the  waters  to  subside,  and  for 
the  roads  to  become  dry.  At  length,  on  Friday 
morning,  Mrs.  Henry  thought  it  would  be  safe 
for  Malleville  to  go.  Malleville  wished  to  go 
by  the  cross-road,  it  was  so  romantic  and  wild. 
Phonny  was  to  go  with  her. 

When  the  time  arrived,  Mrs.  Henry  conclu- 
ded to  let  Beechnut  go  with  the  children,  as 
Phonny,  being  about  ten  years  old,  and  much 
more  remarkable  for  his  self-confidence  and 
courage,  than  for  judgment  and  discretion, 
could  not  be  relied  upon  for  getting  Malleville 
safely  along,  in  case  they  should  encounter  any 
difficulties  on  the  way,  resulting  from  the  over- 
flow of  the  streams.  Beechnut  was  at  work  at 
this  time  in  the  garden.  Phonny,  accordingly, 
went  to  call  him.  So  Beechnut  left  his  work, 
came  to  the  house,  and  they  all  set  off  to- 
gether. 

They  had  not  gone  very  far  before  they  came 
to  a  place  where  there  was  a  high  and  steep 
sand -bank  by  the  side  of  the  road,  with  a  num  • 
ber  of  swallow's  nests  in  it. 

The  swallow  is  a  bird  which,  besides  its  other 
striking  peculiarities,  is  very  remarkable  for  the 
variety  and  oddity  of  its  fancies  in  respect  to 


14  Mary   Bell. 


Swallow's  nests.  Bank-swallows. 

places  for  building  its  nests.  One  tribe  builds 
under  the  eaves  of  barns.  Their  nests  are  made 
of  mud,  which  they  form  into  rounded  masses 
close  under  an  eave,  or  a  cornice,  in  a  barn, — 
hollow  within,  and  with  a  round  hole  for  an  en- 
trance. They  line  the  inside,  of  course,  with 
soft  and  fine  straws  and  feathers.  Others  go 
within  the  barn — entering  at  some  open  window, 
or  by  any  chink  or  crevice  where  they  can  gain 
admission — and  build  their  nests  under  or  upon 
the  rafters  of  the  roof.  Others  take  possession 
of  chimneys, — of  which  they  fortunately  find 
many  vacant  of  smoke  and  disused,  in  the  sea- 
son in  which  they  build  their  nests, — and  there 
in  some  angle  or  other,  among  the  soot  and 
ashes,  they  contrive  to  build  their  little  round 
mud  cabins.  Others  still,  dig  deep  holes,  hori- 
zontally, in  the  face  of  a  perpendicular  sand- 
bank, and  make  a  little  nest  of  straw  and  feath- 
ers at  the  end  of  it.  These  last  are  called  bank- 
swallows. 

Now  it'  happened  that  a  party  of  bank-swal- 
lows had  taken  possession  of  the  bank  already 
referred  to,  which  was  situated  at  the  entrance 
of  the  cross-road,  which  led  to  Mary  Bell's. 
There  was  a  house  pretty  near,  where  there 
lived   a  boy  named  regularly  Alfred;   though 


Birds.  15 

Alfred  and  Jemmy  Gordon. 

the  name  by  which  he  was  most  commonly 
known,  was  Hal. 

When  Beechnut  and  his  party  came  in  sight 
of  this  sand-bank,  they  saw  Alfred  and  another 
boy  at  play  upon  it.  These  boys  had  cut  steps 
with  a  case-knife,  in  the  hardened  sand  which 
formed  the  face  of  the  bank,  and  by  this  means 
had  climbed  up  to  one  of  the  swallow's  holes, 
and  now  seemed  to  be  busy  doing  something  or 
other  there :  but  just  before  Beechnut  arrived 
at  the  spot,  they  came  down  again,  and  began 
to  saunter  carelessly  along  the  road. 

"Hallo,  Hal!"  said  Phonny,  as  soon  as  he 
came  near.  "  What  have  you  been  doing 
there  ?" 

"  Stopping  up  a  swallow's  hole,"  said  Hal. 

As  he  said  this,  he  stopped  by  the  side  of  the 
road,  and  stood  gazing  with  an  air  of  stupid  cu- 
riosity upon  Beechnut's  party,  as  they  were 
walking  by.  He  held  the  case-knife  in  his5- 
hands.  The  other  boy  came  up  to  the  place, 
and  proved  to  be  a  boy  named  Jemmy  Gordon, 
or  rather  a  boy  called  Jemmy  Gordon ; — for  his 
name,  properly  speaking,  was  James. 

"What  did  you  stop  it  up  with?"  asked 
Phonny. 

"  Oh,  with  a  bit  of  a  sod,"  said  Alfred. 


16  Mary  Bell. 


Beechnut's  story  of  Twit  and  Chippeday. 


"  Are  the  swallows  in  there  ?"  asked  Malle- 
ville. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Alfred.  "  They  have 
got  a  nest  in  there." 

"  Then  Chippeday  was  right,  after  all,"  said 
Beechnut. 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ?"  asked  Jemmy. 

"Why  last  evening,"  said  Beechnut,  "just 
before  sundown,  as  I  was  coming  along  home 
from  the  village,  there  were  two  swallows  play- 
ing round  here.  By-and-by  they  stopped  their 
play,  and  lighted  on  the  fence,  and  began  to 
talk  about  where  would  be  a  good  place  to 
make  a  nest.  One's  name  was  Twit,  and  the 
other's  name  was  Chippeday." 

The  children  gathered  up  nearer  to  Beech- 
nut as  he  thus  commenced  his  story,  and  stood 
listening  with  grave  and  earnest  attention. 

"  '  Let's  make  the  nest  in  this  bank/  says 
Twit.  '  No,'  says  Chippeday,  '  see  that  house 
out  there!'  'And  what  of  that  house,'  says 
Twit,  f  There's  a  boy  lives  there,'  says  Chip- 
peday. 'That's  nothing,'  says  Twit.  'We'll 
make  our  nest  so  high  in  the  bank  that4ie  can't 
reach  it/  'He'll  climb  up/  says  Chippeday. 
'  Then  we  will  dig  so  far  into  the  bank  that  he 
can't  reach  in,'  says  Twit,  'if  he  does  climb 


Birds. 

Conversation  between  Twit  and  Chippeday. 


17 


up.'     '  He'll  contrive   some  way  or   other   to 
tease  us/  says  Chippeday,  'you  may  depend.' 


THE     BANK    SWALLOWS. 


"  When  the  swallows  had  talked  so  far,"  con- 
tinued Beechnut,  "they  stopped,  and  did  not 
seem  to  know  what  to  say  next.  I  stood  per- 
fectly still  all  the  time  for  fear  that  I  should 
frighten  them  away.     Presently  says  Twit, 

"  '  Hasn't  the  boy  got  a  house  to  live  in  ?' 

'  Yes,'  says  Chippeday.     '  And  a  good  bed  to 

sleep  in?'  says  Twit.     'Yes/ says  Chippeday. 

'And  a  pillow  to  put  his  head  upon?'    says 

B 


IS  Mary  Bell. 


The  swallows'  play.  Digging  a  nest. 

Twit.  '  Yes/  says  Chippeday.  *  And  a  father 
and  mother  to  take  care  of  him  ?'  says  Twit. 
'  Yes/  says  Chippeday.  '  Well  /  says  Twit,  '  it 
can't  be  possible  that  a  boy  who  has,  for  him- 
self, a  good  house  to  live  in,  and  a  good  bed  to 
sleep  in,  and  a  pillow  to  lay  his  head  upon,  and 
a  father  and  mother  to  take  care  of  him,  can 
begrudge  a  pair  of  swallows  one  little  hole  in  a 
bank,  with  a  few  straws  and  feathers  in  it  for  a 
nest,  which  they  only  want  for  three  or  four, 
weeks,  just  till  they  get  their  little  swallows  big 
enough  to  fly/ 

"  Just  as  Twit  finished  saying  these  words," 
continued  Beechnut,  "she  sprang  forward, 
touched  Chippeday  a  little  tap  on  the  top  of  his 
head  with  the  tip  of  his  wing,  as  he  flew,  just 
for  fun,  and  Chippeday  sprang  after  him. 
Away  they  went,  first  up  in  the  air,  then  down 
to  the  ground — this  way  and  that  way,  and 
round  and  round.  First  Twit  chased  Chippe- 
day, and  then  Chippeday  chased  Twit,  and 
then  they  flew  straight  forward  together,  to  see 
which  could  fly  the  farthest.  Twit  came  up  to 
the  bank  and  danced  against  a  little  hollow  in 
it,  where  she  thought  there  was  a  good  place  to 
begin  a  nest,  and  when  she  had  made  a  few 
scratches  there,  away  she  went  again,  Chippe- 


Birds.  19 

The  party  walk  on.  Caroline's  Canary  bird. 

day  after  her.  When  she  had  flown  about  a 
while  longer,  racing  and  chasing  with  Chippe- 
day,  she  came  back  again  and  dug  in  a  little 
farther  into  the  bank,  and  then  away  she 
whirled  again,  shooting  through  the  air  like  an 
arrow.  And  so  finding  that  they  were  not 
going  to  work  very  steadily,  I  went  along." 

"  Is  that  all  ?"  said  Malleville,  when  she 
found  that  Beechnut  made  a  pause. 

"  Yes,"  said  Beechnut,  "  only  that  I  thought 
at  the  time,  that  Twit  had  the  best  of  the  argu- 
ment in  respect  to  a  boy's  begrudging  a  pair  of 
swallows  their  little  nest,  but  it  seems  that 
Chippeday  was  right,  after  all." 

So  saying  Beechnut  began  to  walk  on,  Mal- 
leville and  Phonny  followed  him,  while  Alfred 
and  James  remained  standing  in  the  road,  in 
the  same  attitude  as  while  they  were  listening 
to  the  story. 

"  Caroline  has  got  a  bird,"  said  Malleville. 

Caroline  was  a  young  lady  of  the  village. 
She  was  about  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  lived 
in  a  very  handsome  house.  Malleville  had 
often  been  to  pay  her  a  visit. 

"  It  is  a  Canary  bird,"  continued  Malleville. 

"  Shut  up  in  a  cage  ?"  asked  Beechnut. 

"  Yes,"  said  Malleville,  "  a  beautiful  cage." 


20  Mary  Bell. 


Letting  the  swallows  out.  Jemmy  and  Alfred. 

The  party  sauntered  along  slowly  a  few 
steps  farther,  when  Malleville  said, 

"Beechnut,  I  wish  you  would  go  and  let 
those  poor  swallows  out,  that  the  boys  stopped 
up  in  the  hole." 

"  No,"  said  Beechnut,  "  not  yet." 

And  so  he  walked  on  a  little  farther. 

He  turned,  occasionally,  to  look  round  at  the 
boys,  and  presently  he  stopped  entirely.  Phon- 
ny  and  Malleville  looked  back  too.  They  saw 
that  Jemmy  had  gone  to  the  bank,  and  was  at 
work  at  the  swallows'  hole.  Alfred  remained 
where  he  had  been,  in  the  road :  and  they  heard 
him  call  out  to  Jemmy  in  an  undertone,  "/ 
wouldn't." 

Jemmy  seemed  to  pay  no  attention  to  Alfred, 
but  he  looked  toward  Beechnut  when  he  saw 
that  Beechnut  had  stopped. 

"  Beechnut,"  said  he,  "  I  have  let  them  out." 
•      "  I  am  glad  of  it,"  said  Beechnut. 

"  You  see,"  said  Beechnut,  speaking  now  to 
Malleville  and  Phonny,  "  the  difference  between 
Hal  and  Jemmy.  They  are  both  of  them  bad 
boys,  and  always  in  mischief;  and  Jemmy  is 
the  worst  of  the  two,  that  is,  he  does  the  most 
mischief.  But  when  he  finds  that  he  is  in  the 
wrong  road,  he  turns  about  at  once  like  a  man, 


Birds.  21 

The  cascade.  Beechnut's  cautions. 

openly  and  honorably.  But  Hal  goes  on,  and 
either  does  not  turn  at  all,  or  waits  until  he  can 
get  a  chance  to  turn  when  people  are  not  look- 
ing at  him." 

So  saying  they  walked  along.  In  due  time 
they  arrived  in  sight  of  the  house  where  Mary 
Bell  lived,  without  having  encountered  any 
serious  difficulty  on  account  of  the  water. 
The  brooks  and  streams  were,  however,  all  very 
high,  and  at  one  place  Beechnut  left  the  road, 
and  took  Malleville  and  Phonny  quite  a  distance 
along  a  rocky  path  by  the  side  of  a  brook,  to 
show  them  a  cascade. 

When  they  arrived  in  sight  of  Mary  Bell's 
house,  Beechnut  said, 

"  Now  you  are  safe  for  the  rest  of  the  way, 
so  good-bye.  If  Mary  Bell  shows  you  her  pic- 
tures, Malleville,  take  one  good  look  at  them  for 
me :  and  if  you  find  a  butterfly's  nest  in  the 
garden,  don't  give  the  little  butterflies  too  much 
cake." 

"No,"  said  Malleville,  very  seriously.  "I 
won't." 

"Nor  eat  too  much  yourself,"  said  Beechnut. 

So  saying  Beechnut  went  away. 

The  house  which  Mary  Bell  lived  in  was  not 
very  large,  but  it  was  very  pleasant,  and  very  J 


22  Mary  Bell. 

Mrs.  Bell's  house. 

pleasantly  situated.  It  was  in  a  retired  place 
in  the  middle  of  a  valley,  and  was  surrounded 
by  trees  and  gardens.  There  was  an  ancient 
stone  wall  in  front  of  the  house,  grey  with  moss 
and  age,  and  half  enveloped  in  shrubbery. 
There  was  a  small  gateway  in  this  wall ;  with 
a  pathway  from  it  that  led  to  the  house. 

Phonny  opened  the  gate,  and  he  and  Malle- 
ville  went  through,  and  thence  advanced  along 
the  path  towards  the  house.  They  saw  nobody, 
but  the  front  door  was  open.  Phonny,  standing 
with  Malleville  upon  the  step,  before  the  door, 
knocked  upon  the  side-post,  but  nobody  came. 

"You  must  knock  louder,"  said  Malleville. 
"  They  don't  hear  you." 

Phonny  knocked  again,  but  not  much  louder 
than  before. 

"  I  do  knock  as  loud  as  I  can,"  said  he.  "  It 
is  because  my  knuckles  are  not  hard  enough. 

"  Let  us  get  a  stick,"  said  Malleville. 

Phonny  looked  about  and  found  a  stick.  He 
knocked  with  it,  louder  than  before,  but  still  no- 
body came. 

"  I'll  get  a  stone,"  said  Phonny. 

"  No,"  said  Malleville,  "  you  must  not  get  a 
stone  ;  it  will  break  the  door." 

"  What  shall  we  do  then  ?"  asked  Phonny. 


Birds.  23 

The  back  yard.  The  garden. 

"  I'll  tell  you,"  said  he,  after  a  moment's 
thought. 

"  We  will  go  around  to  the  other  door." 

So  they  went  around  the  house  to  a  very 
pleasant  back  yard.  The  yard  was  very  green. 
There  was  a  small  garden  by  the  side  of  the 
house,  which  Malleville  said  was  Mary  Bell's 
garden.  There  was  a  well  at  a  little  distance 
from  the  door,  with  a  path  leading  to  it  through 
the  grass.  The  door  was  open,  as  the  front 
door  had  been,  and  Phonny  wTent  up  to  it  and 
knocked.     Nobody  answered. 

"  Let's  go  in,  said  Phonny.* 

So  saying,  he  pushed  boldly  in,  Malleville  fol- 
lowing him  timidly. 

They  went  into  the  entry,  and  then  opened 
a  door  which  ushered  them  into  what  was  called 
the  sitting-room.  There  was  nobody  there. 
They  went  into  the  kitchen.  Every  thing  was 
in  very  nice  order,  but  there  was  nobody  there. 
From  the  kitchen  they  went  out  on  a  back- 
stoop,  which  looked  towards  a  garden. 

"  Here  they  are,"  said  Malleville. 

Phonny  looked  where  Malleville  pointed,  and 
saw  Mary  Bell  and  her  mother,  with  Almira, 

*  See  Frontispiece. 


24  Mary  Bell. 


Mary  Bell's  grotto  and  the  water-fall. 


the  girl  who  lived  with  them,  coming  through 
the  garden.  Mary  Bell  ran  forward  to  wel- 
come Malleville  and  Phonny.  She  seemed 
very  glad  to  see  them. 

"  We  have  been  down  to  my  grotto,"  said 
Mary  Bell,  "  to  see  the  water- fall.  There  is  a 
great  water-fall  to-day,  because  the  brook  is  so 
high."  She  then  invited  her  visiters  into  the 
house. 

Phonny  wished  to  go  to  the  grotto  and  see 
the  water-fall,  but  Malleville  chose  rather  to  re- 
main at  the  house,  and  look  at  some  picture- 
books  which  Mary  Bell  had  promised  to  show 
her.  Accordingly,  Phonny,  who  knew  the  way 
to  the  water-fall  very  well,  ran  off  through  the 
garden  towards  it,  while  Mary  Bell  took  Malle- 
ville up  into  her  room. 

The  picture-books  were  in  a  drawer.  Mary 
Bell  kept  all  her  treasures  in  very  careful  order. 
She  had  a  table  by  a  window,  where  she  wrote 
and  read,  and  sewed,  when  she  was  in  her  cham- 
ber, and  several  drawers  near  by,  where  the  va- 
rious articles  which  she  possessed  were  all  clas- 
sified and  arranged.  She  had  one  drawer  full 
of  pictures  and  picture-books.  She  never  al- 
lowed her  visiters  to  go  to  her  drawers  by  them- 
selves, to  get  things  from  them,  or  even  to  ex- 


Birds.  25 

Mary  Bell's  treasures.  Pictures. 

plore  their  contents,  but  she  went  to  them  al- 
ways herself,  and  took  out  a  few  things  at  a 
time,  and  showed  those  only  to  her  company ; 
so  that  every  time  her  visiters  came,  there  was 
something  to  show  them  which  they  had  never 
seen  before.  Thus  it  seemed  to  Malleville,  who 
had  often  been  to  visit  Mary  Bell,  that  the 
stores  and  treasures  contained  in  those  drawers 
were  absolutely  inexhaustible. 

Malleville  took  the  picture-books  which  Mary 
Bell  gave  her,  while  Mary  Bell  herself  took  her 
sewing,  and  then  they  went  together  down  to 
the  stoop.  Mary  Bell  established  herself  in  a 
chair,  placing  her  work-basket  upon  a  seat 
which  had  been  built  by  the  side  of  the  stoop, 
while  Malleville  sat  down  upon  the  steps,  and 
began  looking  over  the  picture-books,  talking  to 
Mary  Bell  from  time  to  time  about  the  pictures. 

"  Here  is  a  picture  of  an  elephant,"  said  Mal- 
leville. "  What  does  he  want  of  such  a  long 
nose  ?" 

"  It  is  his  proboscis,"  said  Mary  Bell.  "  He 
takes  up  things  with  it." 

"  Here  is  a  picture  of  a  horse,"  said  Malle- 
ville. He  has  not  got  any  proboscis,  though,  to 
be  sure,  his  nose  is  pretty  long.  Why  does  not 
he  have  a  proboscis  to  take  up  things  with  ?" 


26  Mary   Bell. 


The  horse  and  the  elephant.  Mary  Bell's  robin. 

"  Because  he  can  put  his  head  itself  down  to 
the  ground/'  replied  Mary  Bell,  "  and  take  them 
with  his  mouth," 

"  And  why  can't  the  elephant  put  his  head 
down  too  ?"  asked  Malleville. 

"Because  it  is  so  large,"  said  Mary  Bell. 
*  The  elephant  is  very  large,  and  his  head  is 
very  large  and  very  high  up  from  the  ground. 
If  his  head  were  at  the  end  of  a  long  neck,  so  he 
could  let  it  down  to  the  ground,  I  suppose  he 
would  find  it  very  hard  to  get  it  up  again." 

"  Oh,  here  is  a  picture  of  a  bird,"  said  Malle- 
ville. "Caroline  has  got  a  bird.  Don't  you 
wish  that  you  had  a  bird  ?" 

"  I  have  got  one,"  said  Mary  Bell.  "  There 
he  is."  So  saying  she  pointed  to  a  plum  tree 
which  stood  beyond  the  fence  on  the  other  side 
of  the  yard,  where  there  was  a  robin  upon  a 
branch,  singing  very  merrily. 

"  Oh,  but  he  will  fly  away  pretty  soon,"  said 
Malleville.      * 

"  True,"  said  Mary  Bell,  "  but  then  another 
one  will  come  to  take  his  place." 

"  Exactly  the  same  place  ?"  asked  Malleville. 

"  Exactly  the  same  place  in  my  estimation," 
said  Mary  Bell. 

Malleville  did  not  understand  this  very  well, 


Birds.  27 

The  bird's  nest.  The  old  bird. 

so  she  sat  still  a  few  minutes  musing  upon  it, 
and  then  said, 

"  But  Caroline's  bird  has  got  a  cage." 

"  And  some  of  my  birds  have  got  nests,"  re- 
joined Mary  Bell,  "  and  nests  are  better  for  birds 
than  cages." 

"  I  should  like  to  see  a  nest,"  said  Malleville. 

"  Well,"  said  Mary  Bell,  "  I  will  show  you 
one.     Come  with  me." 

So  saying,  Mary  Bell  laid  down  her  work,  and 
taking  Malleville  by  the  hand,  she  led  her  by  a 
little  path  through  the  grass  around  the  corner 
of  the  house  to  a  little  retired  nook,  where,  in  a 
cool  and  sheltered  place,  there  stood  two  or 
three  small  fir-trees. 

"  Softly  ;"  said  Mary  Bell. 

"  Are  the  birds  there  ?"  asked  Malleville. 

"  The  little  ones  are  there  all  the  time,"  said 
Mary  Bell,  "  and  the  great  ones  come  some- 
times to  feed  them.  There  comes  one  of  the 
old  birds  now,"  she  continued,  pointing  to  the 
garden  gate. 

Malleville  looked  in  that  direction,  and  saw 
the  bird — which  was  a  large  robin — standing 
upon  the  gate  with  something  in  his  mouth.  As 
soon  as  the  robin  saw  Mary  Bell  and  Malleville 
so  near  its  nest,  it  flew  back  and  forth  among 


28  Mary  Bell. 


Malleville  climbs  up  to  see  the  young  robins. 


the  trees,  and  seemed  uneasy.  Mary  Bell  and 
Malleville  stepped  back  out  of  the  way.  The 
bird  flew  to  the  nest.  Mary  Bell  held  Malle- 
ville up,  but  she  could  only  get  indistinct  glimp- 
ses of  the  bird  among  the  thick  branches  of  the 
tree.  Presently  the  robin  flew  away  again. 
Then  Mary  Bell  led  Malleville  up  to  the  tree 
once  more. 

"  Now  we  will  climb  up  and  see  the  nest," 
said  she. 

So  she  brought  out  some  steps  from  the  kitch- 
en and  placed  them  at  the  foot  of  the  tree.'  Mal- 
leville climbed  up.  When  she  was  on  the  top- 
most step  she  could  look  into  the  nest.  There 
were  three  young  robins  in  it.  Two  of  them 
opened  their  mouths  very  wide.  They  heard 
the  sound  of  Malleville's  movements  among  the 
branches,  and  thought  that  it  was  their  mother 
coming  to  feed  them  some  more. 


The  Grotto.  29 

Mary  Bell's  grotto.  Her  path. 


Chapter   II. 
The   Grotto. 

Mary  Bell's  grotto  was  situated  among  the 
rocks  upon  the  banks  of  a  brook,  which  came 
running  down  through  a  wild  but  beautiful  dell  in 
the  midst  of  the  woods  behind  the  house.  It  was 
at  some  little  distance  from  the  house,  but  there 
was  a  very  good  path  leading  to  it.  This  path 
Mary  Bell  herself  had  made ;  that  is,  so  far  as 
it  had  been  made  at  all — for  in  many  places  it 
passed  along  over  smooth  surfaces  of  rock,  or 
along  a  shore  of  hard  sand,  where  nothing  arti- 
ficial was  necessary  to  make  a  good  footway. 

There  was  one  thing  peculiar  about  this  path 
to  the  grotto,  and  that  is,  that  it  was  always 
dry.  The  pleasure  enjoyed  by  children,  and 
especially  by  girls,  in  the  country  is,  in  most 
cases,  very  seriously  restricted  and  impeded  by 
the  fact  that  the  grass  is  wet  so  often,  so  that  it 
is  impossible  to  walk  upon  it.  The  dew,  in 
summer  mornings,  lasts  sometimes  till  nearly 
noon ;  and  often  after  a  shower  of  rain,  in  the 
afternoon,  the  drops  of  water  remain  treacher- 


30  Mary   Bell. 


The  object  of  the  path. 


ously  concealed  in  herbage  and  foliage  for  many 
hours  after  all  smooth  surfaces  are  dry.  Mary 
Bell  had,  from  this  cause,  often  been  kept  at 
home,  especially  at  those  seasons  of  the  year 
when  the  grass  was  luxuriant  and  high,  and 
when,  of  course,  it  was  most  pleasant  to  be 
abroad ;  and  Mary  Bell's  plan  of  making  a 
path  along  the  bank  of  the  brook,  originated  at 
first  in  her  desire  to  have  a  walk  leading  some- 
where from  her  mother's  house,  of  such  a  char- 
acter that  she  could  pass  over  it  at  all  times, 
excepting  when  it  was  actually  raining. 

This  object  was  very  easily  effected  in  going 
along  the  bank  of  the  brook,  for  the  way  was 
very  wild  and  rocky,  and  Mary  Bell  could  lay 
out  her  road  for  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
distance,  over  smooth  surfaces  of  rock,  or  along 
sandy  and  pebbly  shores,  where  no  grass  or 
weeds  were  growing  to  intercept  and  hold  the 
drops  of  rain  and  of  dew.  In  some  places,  it  is 
true,  there  were  low  bushes  in  the  way,  but 
these  Mary  Bell  cut  down,  by  means  of  a  large 
pruning-knife  which  belonged  to  her  mother. 
Higher  bushes  overhung  the  path  in  many 
places,  but  these  she  did  not  wish  to  disturb,  for 
they  made  her  walk  cool  and  shady.  It  is  true 
that  the  leaves  and  branches  of  these  bushes 


The   Grotto.  31 

Mary  Bell's  road-building.  Beechnut's  help. 

would  become  sometimes  heavily  laden  with 
drops  of  rain  and  of  dew, — but  this  Mary  Bell 
thought  was  not  of  much  consequence,  since, 
if  she  walked  along  quietly  under  them,  without 
touching  or  disturbing  them  in  any  way,  there 
would  be  no  danger,  she  thought,  that  the  drops 
would  fall  down  upon  her. 

Mary  Bell  found  that  the  cutting  down  the 
low  bushes  with  a  pruning-knife,  was  rather 
hard  work  for  her  sometimes,  for  in  many  in- 
stances the  stems  of  these  bushes  were  pretty 
thick,  and  the  wood  quite  hard.  In  fact,  Mary 
Bell  often  wished  that  she  had  a  brother  to  help 
her  in  some  of  her  operations  ;  but  she  had  not, 
and  it  was,  perhaps,  on  the  whole,  as  well  for 
her  that  she  had  not,  for  she  enjoyed  her  grotto 
and  the  path  which  led  to  it,  the  more  highly 
on  account  of  having  made  them  both  herself, 
by  her  own  patient  and  persevering  industry. 

In  fact,  a  very  little  strength  is  sufficient  to 
accomplish  very  great  and  important  results  if 
dexterously  employed,  and  patiently  and  stead- 
ily continued.  Beechnut,  who  came  sometimes 
on  errands  to  Mrs.  Bell,  gave  Mary  occasion- 
ally some  very  useful  advice  in  regard  to  her 
operations.  He  showed  her  a  way  to  bend 
over  the  top  of  a  bush,  and  then  to  cut  into  the 


32  Mary  Bell. 


The  handspike.  Mary  Bell's  stepping-stones.  Her  bridge. 

stem  with  her  pruning-knife,  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  cut  off  the  stem  most  easily.  He  made 
her,  too,  what  he  called  a  handspike — which 
was  a  lever  of  wood,  by  means  of  which  any 
one  could  easily  pry  and  move  the  large  flat 
stones,  which  lay  upon  the  ground  in  various 
places.  These  flat  stones  Mary  Bell  contrived 
to  move,  by  means  of  her  lever,  so  as  to  make, 
in  some  places,  a  continued  pavement  of  them, 
that  was  tolerably  smooth,  where  the  rocks  be- 
neath them  were  too  rough  and  uneven  to  walk 
upon  conveniently.  In  the  same  way,  when- 
ever she  wished  to  have  her  path  cross  the  bed 
of  the  stream,  she  would  pry  the  large  stones 
which  lay  in  the  water,  some  this  way  and 
others  that,  so  as  to  make  them  answer  for 
stepping-stones.  In  one  case  she  actually  built 
a  bridge.  It  was  at  a  spot  where  there  was  a 
large  flat  stone  lying  in  the  water.  Mary  Bell 
pried  up  this  stone,  first  one  end  of  it,  and  then 
the  other,  and  supported  these  ends  by  other 
stones  which  she  rolled  underneath.  In  this 
manner,  she  at  length  raised  the  flat  stone  so 
high,  that  there  was  room  beneath  it  for  the 
passage  of  all  the  water  of  the  brook,  in  ordi- 
nary times ;  though  when  the  water  was  high, 
after  showers  of  rain  in  the  summer,  or  when 


The   Grotto.  33 

Mary  Bell's  perseverance  in  her  plans. 

the  snows  were  melting  in  the  spring,  this 
bridge  was  often  wholly  submerged. 

Mary  Bell  did  not  make  this  road  up  the 
brook  all  at  one  time.  It  was  the  work,  in 
fact,  of  her  play  hours  and  her  play  days,  for 
more  than  two  years.  As  she  lived  alone  with 
her  mother,  and  thus  generally  had  no  play- 
mate in  her  leisure  hours,  she  was  compelled  to 
rely  upon  her  own  resources  for  amusement; 
and  whatever  the  plans  might  be  which  she 
adopted,  she  learned  to  pursue  them  with  great 
perseverance  and  steadiness,  and  thus  she  ac- 
complished in  the  end  what  would  at  first  have 
seemed  entirely  impossible  for  such  a  child. 
She  was  but  about  ten  or  twelve  years  old 
when  this  work  wTas  done,  for  the  making  of 
the  road,  and  of  the  grotto  at  the  end  of  it,  took 
place,  it  must  be  remembered,  a  long  time  be- 
fore the  period  of  Phonny  and  Malleville's  visit 
to  Mrs.  Bell,  which  is  described  in  the  last 
chapter. 

When  Mary  Bell  first  began  to  make  her 
road,  she  had  no  thought  of  a  grotto  :  her  only 
object  was  to  make  a  pleasant  walk  through 
the  dell,  along  the  banks  of  the  brook,  so  that 
she  could  go  there  easily  to  see  the  waterfalls, 
or  to  sit  upon  the  rocks  and  read,  or  take  her 
C 


34  Mary  Bell. 


The  building  of  the  grotto. 


company  there  on  Saturday  afternoons  to  play. 
She  found,  however,  at  length,  in  a  peculiarly 
wild  and  picturesque  part  of  the  dell,  a  place 
where  she  thought  a  grotto,  such  as  she  had 
read  about  in  one  of  her  story-books,  might 
easily  be  made.  It  was  a  place  in  an  angle  of 
a  rock,  under  an  overhanging  precipice,  where 
by  building  a  wall  on  one  side,  and  that  not 
very  high,  a  pretty  complete  enclosure  would 
be  made,  like  a  hut.  She  immediately  resolved 
on  undertaking  this  work ;  and  by  doing  some- 
thing upon  it  every  time  that  she  went  to  the 
brook  to  play,  the  work  advanced  very  steadily, 
though  slowly,  until  the  grotto  was  made.  She 
first  rolled  all  the  loose  stones  which  lay  upon 
the  floor  of  the  grotto,  out  of  the  way,  selecting 
from  them  such  as  were  suitable  for  building 
the  wall,  and  laying  them  carefully  in  a  line 
where  the  wall  was  to  be,  for  a  foundation. 
She  afterwards  carried  up  the  wall  to  its  proper 
height,  that  is,  until  it  met  the  projecting  rock 
overhead,  which  was  to  form  the  roof  of  her 
grotto.  She  made  this  wall  very  thick,  and  built 
it  of  flat  stones,  such  as  she  found  lying  in  great 
abundance  scattered  over  the  ground.  The 
stones,  being  flat  were  not  heavy,  and  yet  they 
made,  when  well  laid  together,  a  very  substan- 


The   Grotto.  35 

Mary  Bell's  working  dress. 

tial  wall ;  and  when  it  was  built  up  to  the  roof 
of  the  grotto,  and  wedged  in  at  the  top  by 
crowding  in  the  upper  stones  very  hard  between 
the  top  of  the  wall  and  the  sloping  roof  of  rocks 
above,  it  formed  a  mass  almost  as  solid  as  the 
rock  itself. 

It  was  a  great  many  weeks  after  this  wall 
was  commenced  before  it  was  completed.  At 
one  time,  in  fact,  Mary  Bell  thought  that  it 
never  would  be  done ;  but  she  persevered,  and 
finally  finished  it.  Sometimes  she  had  a  little 
help  from  her  companions  and  playmates,  when 
they  came  to  visit  her,  especially  in  the  lighter 
kinds  of  work.  The  heavy  work,  such  as  car- 
rying flat  stones  and  laying  them  upon  the  wall, 
Mary  Bell  had  to  do  herself  alone,  for  she,  only, 
was  properly  dressed  for  such  labors.  She  had 
a  coarse  apron,  and  a  pair  of  mittens  of  brown 
linen,  which  she  had  made  expressly  for  her 
work  about  the  brook ;  so  that  she  could  lift 
pretty  heavy  stones  without  doing  either  her 
hands  or  her  proper  dress  any  injury. 

Mary  Bell  had,  however,  at  last,  a  great  deal 
of  help  from  her  playmates,  in  the  light  work 
which  was  required  in  the  finishing  of  her 
grotto,  after  the  wall  was  built.  They  col- 
lected for  her  great  quantities  of  moss,  from 


36  Mary  Bell. 


Finishing  the  grotto.  A  mosaic. 

various  places  up  and  down  the  brook,  and  this 
moss  Mary  Bell  crowded  in  between  the  stones 
of  the  wall,  both  on  the  inside  and  outside,  and 
also  into  the  seams  and  crevices  of  the  natural 
rock  which  formed  the  other  two  sides  of  it. 
This  moss  soon  began  to  grow  so  as  to  fill  the 
open  spaces  completely,  and  even  in  some  de- 
gree to  cover  the  stones  themselves.  This 
gave  to  the  whole  interior  of  the  grotto  a  very 
agreeable  aspect  and  expression,  and  brought 
the  artificial  side  of  the  enclosure  into  keeping 
and  harmony  with  the  natural  sides ;  so  that 
the  whole  had  very  much  the  appearance  of  a 
small  natural  cave  in  the  solid  rock,  with  walls 
hung  with  moss  instead  of  tapestry. 

The  floor  of  the  grotto  was,  in  its  natural 
state,  somewhat  rough  and  uneven,  and  Beech- 
nut one  day  recommended  Mary  Bell  to  pave 
it  in  mosaic.  Mary  Bell  had  never  heard  of 
a  mosaic  pavement ;  and  she  asked  Beechnut 
what  it  was.  He  said  that  it  was  a  pavement 
of  different  colored  stones,  arranged  in  some 
regular  form  so  as  to  produce  a  pretty  effect. 
He  had  seen  magnificent  mosaic  pavements, 
he  said,  in  France,  before  he  came  to  Am- 
erica. 

"  But   I  don't   know  how  to  make  a  pave- 


The    Gro 


TTO. 


37 


Beechnut's  directions  for  making  a  mosaic  pavement. 


THS    GBOTTO. 


ment,"  said  Mary  Bell.  "  I  don't  know  how  to 
fasten  the  stones." 

"  There  will  be  no  difficulty  in  that,"  replied 
Beechnut,  "  you  have  only  to  put  them  close 
together,  and  they  will  fasten  themselves. 
First,"  continued  he,  "  you  must  cover  over  the 
floor  of  your  grotto  with  earth — " 

"  Where  shall  I  get  the  earth  ?"  interrupted 
Mary  Bell. 

"  Oh,  you  must  dig  it  out  of  a  bank  some* 
where  near,  and  bring  it  in  some  old  basket. 


38  Mary  Bell. 


The  stones  for  the  pavement. 


Men  or  boys  would  move  it  with  a  wheelbar- 
row, but  girls  have  to  work  with  baskets." 

"  When  you  have  carried  earth  enough  into 
the  grotto,"  continued  Beechnut,  "you  must 
spread  it  over  the  floor,  so  as  to  make  a  smooth 
and  level  surface.  You  must  then  look  up  and 
down  the  brook,  and  get  all  the  pretty  stones  that 
you  can  find." 

"  How  large  must  they  be  ?"  asked  Mary 
Bell. 

"  About  as  large  as  my  fist,"  said  Beechnut, 
doubling  up  his  fist  and  showing  it  to  Mary 
Bell. 

Mary  Bell  shut  her  own  hand  in  the  same 
way,  but  she  could  not  make  it  look  much  like 
a  fist. 

"  It  is  not  necessary  to  be  very  particular 
about  the  size  of  the  stones,"  said  Beechnut. 
"  Find  stones  that  have  one  end  about  as  large 
as  the  palm  of  your  hand ;  it  is  of  no  conse- 
quence if  some  are  longer  than  the  others,  so 
as  to  extend  farther  down  into  the  earth.  You 
can  dig  away  a  little  for  the  long  ones,  when 
you  set  them  in  their  places,  as  the  paviers  do, 
in  paving  the  streets  of  cities." 

"  When  you  have  got  the  stones  together," 
continued  Beechnut,  "  you  must  sort  them  out 


The    Grotto.  39 

Beechnut  promises  more  instructions  bye  and  bye. 

into  separate  parcels,  according  to  their  colors  • 
the  blue  ones  together,  and  the  brown  ones  to- 
gether, and  so  with  the  rest.  It  will  be  a  good 
plan  to  get  one  large,  round,  white  stone  for  the 
centre,  if  you  can.  But  I  cannot  tell  you  any 
more  now.  It  is  time  for  me  to  go  home. 
When  you  have  got  the  stones  all  collected,  I 
will  tell  you  what  to  do  next." 

"  Very  well,"  said  Mary  Bell,  "  you  have  told 
me  enough  now.  It  will  take  me  two  or  three 
weeks  to  get  all  the  stones.  I  don't  go  to  my 
grotto  very  often." 

At  the  time  that  Beechnut  held  this  conver- 
sation with  Mary  Bell,  he  was  sitting  upon  a 
horse  near  the  gate,  by  the  house  where  Mary 
Bell  lived,  ready  to  go  away.  He  had  come 
there  that  day  on  an  errand.  He  knew  that 
Mary  Bell  advanced  very  slowly  with  her  work, 
and  that  she  did  not  need  a  great  deal  of  instruc- 
tion at  a  time,  and  accordingly  as  he  had  now 
given  enough  to  serve  her  for  some  days,  and  as 
he  had  then  no  more  time  to  spare  for  talking 
with  her,  he  concluded  to  go  away. 

Mary  Bell  found  that  it  took  even  more  time 
than  she  had  expected,  to  find  enough  stones  of 
the  right  kind.  She  found,  however,  a  very 
pretty  white  stone  for  the  centre,  the  very  first 


40  Mary   Bell, 


Collecting  the  stones.  Mary  Bell's  visitors. 

day  that  she  began  to  look  for  stones.  It  was 
quite  heavy,  but  she  succeeded  at  length  in  car- 
rying it  to  the  grotto,  and  in  depositing  it  safely 
by  the  door.  The  same  day  she  found  about 
twenty  other  stones  of  a  smaller  size,  which 
seemed  suitable  to  her  purpose.  These  she  car- 
ried along  very  easily.  They  were  of  various 
colors,  and  she  placed  them,  one  by  one,  in  the 
heaps  where  they  respectively  belonged.  There 
were  four  heaps,  characterized  by  the  predomi- 
nant color  of  the  stones  which  formed  them. 

A  few  days  after  this  several  girls  from  the 
village  came  to  see  Mary  Bell,  and  as  usual 
when  they  came  to  visit  her,  they  wished  im- 
mediately to  go  to  the  grotto.  When  they  found 
that  Mary  Bell  was  going  to  make  a  paved  floor, 
and  that  she  was  collecting  pebble-stones  for 
this  purpose,  they  were  all  eager  to  help  her. 
So  Mary  Bell  took  them  some  distance  down  the 
brook,  to  a  place  where  there  was  a  much  larger 
number  of  smooth  pebble-stones  in  the  stream, 
than  there  were  near  the  grotto.  Here  they 
found  an  abundant  supply.  Mary  Bell  pulled 
the  pebbles  out  of  the  shore,  and  after  letting 
them  lie  there  a  short  time  to  dry,  the  children 
began  to  take  them  up — one  in  each  hand. 
There  were  five  children  besides  Mary  Bell,  so 


The  Grotto.  41 


The  stones  all  ready.  Beechnut's  promise. 

that  the  whole  party  could  carry  twelve  stones 
at  a  time.  They  went  to  and  from  the  grotto, 
carrying  stones  in  this  manner,  six  times,  so  that 
they  carried  seventy-two  stones  in  all,  which 
constituted  a  great  addition  to  Mary  Bell's  stock 
of  materials  for  the  paving. 

In  fact,  the  supply  seemed  so  abundant,  that  the 
children  insisted  that  there  were  stones  enough, 
and  they  began  to  urge  Mary  Bell  to  commence 
the  laying  of  them.  They  wished  to  see,  they 
said,  how  the  mosaic  pavement  would  look. 
But  Mary  Bell  said  that  she  should  not  begin  to 
lay  it  until  she  had  seen  Beechnut  again,  in  or- 
der to  get  precise  direction  from  him  how  to  do 
the  work  properly.  After  taking  so  much  pains, 
she  said,  to  get  her  materials  all  together,  she 
did  not  wish  to  hurry  through  the  work,  and 
so  have  it  all  wrong  in  the  end. 

When  Beechnut  heard  that  Mary  Bell  was 
ready  for  his  instructions  in  respect  to  laying 
the  pavement,  he  sent  word  to  her  one  day, 
that  unless  she  wished  to  do  all  the  work  about 
her  grotto  herself,  without  help,  he  would  come 
over  with  Phonny  the  next  Saturday  afternoon, 
and  help  her  place  the  stones.  Mary  Bell  said 
that  she  should  like  that  plan  very  much  in- 
deed, and  so  it  was  arranged  that  Beechnut  and 
4* 


42  Mary   Bell. 

Beechnut  and  Phonny  come  to  make  the  pavement. 

Phonny  were  to  come.  Although  Beechnut 
was  at  work  at  Mrs.  Henry's  on  wages,  still, 
as  has  been  stated  in  other  volumes  of  this  se- 
ries, he  always  had  the  Saturday  afternoon  at 
his  own  disposal,  in  order  that  he  might  have 
some  time  to  amuse  himself  in  any  manner  he 
pleased.  It  was  in  consequence  of  this  arrange- 
ment that  he  was  enabled  to  promise  to  come 
with  Phonny  the  next  Saturday  afternoon. 

When  Beechnut  arrived  at  Mrs.  Bell's,  he 
told  Mary  that  it  would  not  be  necessary  for  her 
to  go  down  with  him  to  the  grotto,  for  he  and 
Phonny  would  do  the  work  of  laying  the  pave- 
ment themselves,  without  any  help  from  her, — 
unless  she  chose  to  go  and  see  the  operation. 

Mary  Bell  did  choose  to  go.  There  was,  be- 
sides, a  girl  from  the  village,  who  was  visiting 
Mary  Bell  that  day,  and  she  was  very  desirous 
of  going  to  the  grotto,  too,  to  see  Beechnut  make 
the  mosaic  pavement.  So  they  all  went  along 
together. 

Beechnut  had  brought  a  small  iron  crow-bar 
with  him,  and  Phonny  had  a  garden  trowel  in 
his  hand.  Phonny  also  took  Mary  Bell's  hand- 
spike, at  Beechnut's  request,  which,  being  light, 
he  could  carry  in  one  hand,  while  he  held  the 
trowel    in   the   other.      Mary   Bell   wondered 


The   Grotto.  43 


Beechnut's  method  of  operations. 


what  was  to  be  done  with  all  these  tools,  but 
she  did  not  ask,  as  she  did  not  wish  to  trouble 
Beechnut  to  answer  unnecessary  questions. 

When  Beechnut  arrived  at  the  grotto  he  was 
very  much  pleased  to  see  what  an  excellent  col- 
lection of  stones  for  a  mosaic  pavement  Mary 
Bell  had  succeeded  in  getting  together.  He  im- 
mediately commenced  his  work,  and  in  the  course 
of  three  hours  he  made  an  entire  change  in  the 
appearance  of  the  whole  interior  of  the  grotto. 
He  first  loosened  up  a  little  of  the  earth  in  the 
center  of  the  floor,  and  then  settled  the  round 
white  stone  in  its  place  there.  Then  he  selected 
a  number  of  the  very  darkest  stones  in  Mary 
Bell's  collection,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a 
dark  ring  around  this  central  stone.  Four  of 
these  dark  stones  were  of  a  blueish  color ;  the 
others  were  brown.  The  blue  stones  he  placed 
at  equal  distances  from  each  other,  one  in  front, 
another  back,  and  the  other  two  at  the  two 
sides.  The  intervening  spaces  he  filled  with 
brown  stones,  thus  completing  the  ring.  In 
setting  each  stone  in  its  place,  he  first  made  a 
little  bed  for  it  by  loosening  the  earth  below  it 
with  his  trowel,  doing  this  to  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  according  to  the  bigness  of  the  stone. 
He  then  selected  other   stones  and  arranged 


44  Mary  Bell. 


The  mosaic  pavement  finished. 


them,  with  great  taste  and  judgment,  in  such  a 
manner  that  by  the  time  that  he  had  paved 
over  a  space  two  feet  in  diameter  he  had  formed 
the  figure  of  a  star,  with  the  round  white  stone 
for  the  center  of  it.  He  filled  the  space  around 
the  star  with  stones  of  a  uniform  tint,  and  then 
surrounded  the  whole  with  a  square  border, 
which  gave  to  the  whole  a  very  neat  and  fin- 
ished appearance.  This  square  border,  how- 
ever, was  a  foot  or  more  on  each  side  from  the 
walls  of  the  grotto,  so  that  the  pavement,  thus 
far,  did  not  cover  the  whole  floor.  There  were, 
however,  now  but  very  few  stones  remaining — 
apparently  not  enough  to  finish  the  work. 
Mary  Bell  asked  if  she  should  not  try  to  find 
some  more. 

But  Beechnut  said  that  he  should  not  want 
any  more.  The  rest  of  the  space  would  be 
occupied  by  the  seats,  and  it  was  not  necessary 
to  have  a  pavement  under  the  seats. 

"  Seats !"  said  Mary  Bell,  "  I  don't  see  how 
I  can  make  any  seats." 

"Oh,  I  am  going  to  make  them  for  you," 
replied  Beechnut.  "  That  is  the  reason  that 
I  brought  down  the  hand-spike  and  the  iron 
bar." 

Mary  Bell  did  not  understand  this,  for  she 


The   Grotto.  45 

Beechnut's  plan  for  seats. 

did  not  see  how  seats  could  be  made  by  the  use 
of  such  tools  as  those.  She  had  no  idea  of  any 
seats  for  such  a  place  except  wooden  benches. 
Beechnut,  however,  intended  to  make  stone 
seats,  so  that  the  furniture  of  the  grotto  within 
might  be  formed  of  as  stable  and  enduring  a 
material  as  the  outward  structure.  Accord- 
ingly, when  the  mosaic  pavement  was  finished, 
Beechnut  brought  in  several  large  flat  stones 
which  he  then  embedded  in  a  very  firm  man- 
ner around  the  sides  of  the  grotto,  upon  that 
part  of  the  floor  which  had  not  been  covered 
by  the  mosaic  pavement.  These  flat  stones 
were  for  the  foundations  of  the  seats.  He  then 
looked  up  and  down  the  bank  of  the  brook  to 
find  stones  suitable  for  seats,  that  is,  such  as 
were  of  the  proper  width  for  a  seat,  and  had 
one  of  their  surfaces  smooth  and  convenient  to 
sit  upon.  Some  of  the  stones  which  he  selected 
were  pretty  large  and  heavy;  but  yet,  with 
Phonny's  help,  and  by  means  of  the  hand-spike 
and  the  crow-bar,  which  were  used  as  levers, 
he  succeeded  in  getting  them  along  to  the 
grotto. 

When  the  first  of  these  great  stones  came  to 
the  door,  Beechnut  said  that  he  had  made  a 
great  mistake  in  not  putting  in  his  seats  first, 


46  Mary  Bell. 


The  grotto  completed. 


and  making  his  mosaic  pavement  afterwards ; 
since  he  could  not  well  get  such  heavy  masses 
over  so  frail  a  pavement,  without  danger  of  de- 
ranging it.  Finally  he  protected  the  pavement 
by  bringing  a  great  quantity  of  sand  from  the 
brook,  and  spreading  over  it,  and  then  covering 
the  sand  with  branches  broken  off  from  the 
neighboring  trees.  He  was  now  able  to  move 
in  the  stones  intended  for  the  seats  without  any 
difficulty  ;  and  the  sand  was  of  permanent  ser- 
vice to  the  pavement  besides,  by  working  its 
way  down  into  the  interstices  between  the 
stones,  thus  consolidating  the  whole  mass,  and 
making  the  surface  firm.  When  the  stone  seats 
were  all  got  in  and  properly  placed,  and  blocked 
up  to  the  proper  height  to  sit  upon,  Mary  Bell 
gathered  up  the  branches  which  had  been  spread 
upon  the  floor,  and  making  a  broom  of  some  of 
them,  she  swept  out  the  surplus  sand  from  the 
floor  of  the  grotto,  and  brought  the  mosaic 
pavement  to  view  again.  It  looked  now  more 
beautiful  than  ever.  The  company  all  sat 
down  upon  the  stone  seats,  and  regarded  the 
whole  work  with  great  admiration. 

Such  was  the  origin  and  history  of  Mary 
Bell's  grotto. 


The   Inundation.  47 

Carlo.  His  character. 


Chapter   III. 

The   Inundation. 

Mrs?  Bell  had  a  dog  named  Carlo.  He  was 
pretty  large,  and  of  a  very  dark  brown  color. 
His  hair  was  long,  smooth,  curling  at  the  ends, 
and  very  glossy.  Carlo  was  a  very  sagacious 
dog,  but  very  sedate  and  sober.  He  was,  more- 
over, very  independent.  He  would  never  come 
at  any  body's  call,  or  obey  any  body's  orders, 
but  would  do  always  just  as  he  pleased.  Some- 
times when  Mary  Bell  came  home  from  school, 
or  from  the  village,  he  would  seem  overjoyed  to 
see  her.  He  would  run  toward  her,  and  leap 
about  her  with  every  manifestation  of  the  most 
extravagant  joy.  At  other  times  he  would  lie 
motionless  upon  the  great  flat  stone  which 
formed  the  door-step,  with  his  chin  upon  his 
paws,  and  merely  watch  Mary  Bell's  motions 
with  the  eye  that  happened  to  be  turned  to- 
ward her,  exhibiting  all  the  time  an  appearance 
of  the  utmost  indifference  and  unconcern  ;  and 
if  on  such  occasions  Mary  Bell  undertook  to 
call  him,  and  to  awaken  in  him  some  feelings 


48  Mary  Bell 

Phonny's  attempts  to  make  Carlo  obey. 

of  gladness  and  welcome,  by  encouraging  words 
and  chirruppings,  the  only  response  to  her  ad- 
vances, on  the  part  of  Carlo,  which  she  could 
ever  obtain,  was  a  gentle  rap  with  his  tail  upon 
the  stone  on  which  he  was  lying ;  which  gestic- 
ulation seemed  to  say,  "  I  hear  you  very  well, 
but  don't  choose  to  answer  or  come." 

Phonny  was  very  fond  of  Carlo,  though  he, 
as  well  as  every  body  else,  failed  entirely  in  all 
his  efforts  to  assert  or  maintain  any  power  over 
him.  Phonny  made  a  great  variety  of  attempts 
to  induce  Carlo  to  obey  him,  or  to  come  when 
he  called,  but  wholly  without  success. 

One  day,  for  instance,  when  Phonny  was  vis- 
iting at  Mary  Bell's,  he  came  to  the  back  door, 
and  there  he  saw  Carlo  standing  at  a  little  dis- 
tance from  the  house,  by  the  great  gate,  and 
looking  out  into  the  road.  Phonny  began  to 
call  the  dog.  Carlo  turned  his  head  and  looked 
at  Phonny,  but  otherwise  he  did  not  move. 
Phonny  then  began  to  call  him  again  with 
great  vehemence,  chirping  and  whistling  to 
him,  patting  his  knee,  and  making  other  such 
gesticulations  as  dogs  are  supposed  to  under- 
stand ;  addressing  him  all  the  time,  too,  in  the 
most  encouraging  and  flattering  manner,  by  the 
words,  "  Good  fellow  !"  "  Nice  Carlo !"  and  by 


The    Inundation.  49 

Phonny  gets  a  piece  of  meat.  Carlo's  cunning. 

various  other  complimentary  epithets.  Carlo 
continued  to  look  toward  Phonny,  but  it  was 
with  an  unconcerned  air,  and  he  remained  per- 
fectly motionless. 

*  I'll  make  you  come,"  said  Phonny  to  him- 
self; and  so  resolving,  he  went  into  the  house, 
and  presently  returned  with  a  very  fine  piece 
of  meat,  which  he  had  begged  of  Mrs.  Bell.  He 
held  this  bait  out  toward  Carlo,  and  began  call- 
ing him  again.  Carlo  did  not  move.  Phonny 
then  advanced  a  little  way  toward  him,  think 
ing,  perhaps,  that  Carlo  did  not  see  the  meat. 
As  he  advanced,  he  paused  occasionally  and 
called,  but  Carlo  did  not  move. 

"  I'll  let  him  smell  of  it,"  said  he,  "  and  then 
he  will  come." 

So  he  walked  cautiously  up  to  where  Carlo 
was  standing,  and  held  the  meat  out  toward 
him,  intending  just  to  let  him  smell  of  it  to  see 
what  it  was,  and  then  to  retreat  again,  in  order 
that  Carlo  might  follow  him  and  get  it.  But 
Carlo,  who  had  perfectly  understood  the  whole 
game  from  the  beginning,  waited  quietly  until 
the  meat  was  near  enough  to  him  to  allow  him 
to  reach  it  without  moving  his  body,  and  then 
seized  it  by  a  sudden  snap  of  his  jaws,  and  swal- 
lowed it  in  an  instant,  leaving  Phonny  utterly 


50  Mary  Bell. 


Carlo's  visits  to  the  grotto. 


confounded.  Carlo  immediately  replaced  his 
head  in  the  same  position  as  before,  stood  per- 
fectly motionless,  and  looked  at  Phonny  out  of 
one  eye,  with  the  most  grave  and  innocent 
expression  of  countenance  that  can  be  im- 
agined. 

Carlo  was  very  fond  of  the  water,  and  when- 
ever Mary  Bell  went  to  the  grotto,  he  was  al- 
ways very  eager  to  accompany  her.  He  always 
found  out  by  some  sort  of  instinct,  when  she  was 
going,  and  then  he  immediately  set  off  himself 
at  a  full  run ;  and  when  at  length  Mary  Bell 
reached  the  grotto,  she  always  found  him  there 
before  her,  bathing  himself  in  the  brook  in  front 
of  it. 

It  happened  so,  on  the  day  of  Phonny  and 
Malleville's  visit  to  Mary  Bell,  which  we  are 
now  describing.  After  Malleville  had  looked 
at  Mary  Bell's  picture-books  and  birds,  she  pro- 
posed to  Mary  Bell  that  they  should  follow 
Phonny  down  to  the  grotto.  Mary  Bell  said 
that  she  would  go.  So  she  went  back  to  the 
stoop  and  put  away  her  work,  and  then  both 
the  girls  went  into  the  house  to  get  their  bon- 
nets and  prepare  for  their  walk. 

When  they  came  out  again,  Mary  Bell  led 
the  way  to  a  sort  of  shed,  in  order  to  get  her 


The  Inundation.  51 

Mary  Bell's  crook.  Carlo's  pleasure. 

crook,  as  she  called  it.  Her  crook  was  a  long 
staff  with  a  short  curve  in  it  at  the  upper  end, 
so  that  it  had  the  form  and  appearance  of  the 
crook  of  a  shepherdess.  This  crook  Mary  Bell 
almost  always  took  with  her  when  she  went  up 
the  grotto  path,  partly  for  the  sake  of  its  com- 
pany, and  partly  to  assist  herself  with  it  over 
the  difficulties  of  the  way.  It  was  pretty  long, 
and  of  a  dark  color,  having  been  browned  by 
time.  Mary  Bell  had  found  it  growing  near 
her  grotto,  and  having  been  struck  with  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  singular  curve  which  the  stem 
presented,  she  cut  it  down  and  brought  it  home ; 
and  Beechnut  had  afterward  taken  off  the  bark, 
and  then  smoothed  and  varnished  it  for  her. 
She  had  had  it  now  for  one  or  two  years,  and 
it  was  her  constant  companion  in  her  rambles 
in  the  woods. 

While  Mary  Bell  was  getting  her  crook, 
Carlo  came  running  into  the  shed  with  the  ap- 
pearance of  great  excitement  and  pleasure,  and 
after  leaping  up  before  Mary  Bell  and  Malle- 
ville  several  times,  and  running  around  them, 
first  this  way  and  then  that,  he  wheeled  about 
suddenly  and  went  out  at  the  door,  and  then 
began  running  down  the  lane  as  fast  as  he  could 
g°- 


52  Mary  Bell. 


Carlo  and  the  gate. 


"  He  knows  that  we  are  going  to  the  grotto/' 
said  Mary  Bell. 

"  How  does  he  know  ?"  asked  Malleville. 

"  Why,  I  suppose,"  replied  Mary  Bell,  "  it  is 
because  he  sees  that  I  am  getting  my  crook. 
Now  he  will  run  down  and  open  the  gate  for  us, 
and  wait  there  until  we  go  through." 

"Why,  Mary  Bell!"  exclaimed  Malleville. 
"  I  never  heard  of  a  dog  that  could  open  a  gate." 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  Mary  Bell,  "  Carlo  can  at 
any  rate.  He  pulls  it  open  with  his  paw.  You 
will  see." 

Malleville,  however,  did  not  see  Carlo  actu- 
ally open  the  gate,  for  he  ran  along  so  fast  that 
he  had  got  it  open  before  the  girls  were  near 
enough  to  see.  It  was  a  small  gate  which 
opened  out  of  the  lane  toward  a  little  path 
which  led  down  to  the  woods.  The  gate  was 
light,  and  it  was  not  fastened.  It  was  kept  shut 
by  means  of  a  weight  hung  to  a  chain.  One 
end  of  the  chain  was  fastened  to  the  gate,  and 
the  other  to  a  small  post  which  had  been  set  in 
the  ground  for  this  purpose  near  the  gate,  on  the 
inside.  Thus  the  gate  could  be  easily  pulled 
open  toward  the  lane,  by  any  one  coming  in  that 
direction,  and  then,  upon  their  passing  through, 
the  weight  would  shut  it  again.      Carlo  had 


The  Inundation. 


53 


Carlo's  politeness  to  Mary  Bell. 


learned  to  open  this  gate  with  his  paw,  and 
whenever  he  knew  that  Mary  Bell  was  coming 
through,  he  used  to  wait  and  hold  it  open  for 
her  until  she  had  passed.  The  only  reward 
that  he  obtained  for  this  politeness  was,  that 
Mary  Bell  used  generally  to  stop  and  pat  his 
head  a  little  with  her  hand,  or  with  the  end  of 
her  crook,  when  she  was  going  through. 

When  Malleville  and  Mary  Bell  came  in  sight 
of  the  gate  on  this  occasion,  they  found  that  it 
was  wide  open,  and  that  Carlo  was  standing 


CARLO. 

5* 


54  Mary  Bell. 


The  brook  in  a  freshet.  Carlo  in  the  water. 

against  it  to  keep  it  from  being  shut  by  the 
weight  and  chain.  As  soon  as  Mary  Bell  and 
Malleville  had  passed  through,  Carlo  followed 
them,  and  let  the  gate  come  to.  He  stopped  a 
moment  for  Mary  Bell  to  pat  him  upon  his  head, 
and  to  rub  him  with  the  end  of  her  crook,  and 
then,  as  soon  as  she  stopped  doing  so,  he  bound- 
ed away  along  the  path  into  the  woods,  as  fast 
as  he  could  run,  and  soon  disappeared  from 
view. 

Mary  Bell  and  Malleville  followed  him.  The 
path  descended  rapidly,  among  rocks  and  bushes, 
until  it  came  to  the  margin  of  the  stream,  which, 
now  swollen  by  the  rains,  was  rushing  on  over 
its  rocky  bed  in  a  wild  and  impetuous  torrent. 
Malleville  was  very  much  impressed  by  the 
sublimity  of  the  scene.  In  fact,  she  was  a  little 
afraid  to  go  very  near  to  the  brook  lest  she 
should  fall  in,  and  be  swept  away.  Mary  Bell, 
however,  kept  hold  of  her  hand  and  assured  her 
that  there  was  no  danger.  Carlo  at  least  was 
convinced  that  there  was  no  danger,  for  Mary 
Bell  and  Malleville  could  see  him,  at  a  short 
distance  before  them,  through  the  trees,  plung- 
ing into  the  current  here  and  there,  and  cross- 
ing the  stream  continually  so  as  to  be  now  on 
this  side  of  it  and  now  on  that,  as  if  he  liked 


The   Inundation.  55 

Mary  Bell  calls  him  in  vain.  The  bridge. 

the  water  all  the  better  for  its  abundance,  and 
for  the  tumultuous  wildness  of  its  motion. 

Malleville,  in  fact,  was  quite  concerned  for 
Carlo's  safety,  fearing  lest  he  might  get  drowned. 
She  begged  Mary  Bell  to  call  him  back,  and 
Mary  Bell  did  accordingly  begin  to  call,  with  a 
loud  voice,  and  in  very  authoritative  tones. 
But  all  was  in  vain  ;  Carlo  paid  no  heed  to  the 
calls  whatever.  His  disregard  of  Mary  Bell's 
commands,  however,  was  not  in  this  instance 
owing  to  his  spirit  of  disobedience,  for  the  roar- 
ing of  the  water  in  the  brook,  mingled  with  the 
dashing  sound  produced  close  to  Carlo's  ears 
by  his  plunges  into  it,  prevented  his  hearing 
Mary  Bell  at  all.  Finally  Mary  Bell  gave  up 
the  attempt  to  call  the  dog  back,  and  she  and 
Malleville  walked  along  quietly  together. 

They  scrambled  along  over  the  rocks,  some- 
times not  without  considerable  difficulty. 

"  There  is  a  better  road  than  this  when  the 
water  is  not  so  high,"  said  Mary  Bell,  "  but  now 
all  the  low  places  in  it  are  overflowed.  The 
bridge  is  overflowed." 

"  Then  how  can  we  get  over  ?"  asked  Malle- 
ville. 

"  Oh,  we  need  not  go  over  at  all,"  replied 
Mary  Be&.     "  My  path   goes    across  first  by 


56  Mary  Bell. 


Mary  Bell  and  Malleville  on  the  bank.  The  whirlpool. 

stepping-stones,  and  then  it  comes  back  by  the 
bridge :  but  we  can  keep  on  this  side  all  the  way 
if  we  choose,  and  so  not  cross  the  brook  at  all. 
Only  we  shall  have  some  scrambling  to  do  over 
the  rocks." 

"  No  matter  for  that,"  said  Malleville.  "  I 
like  to  scramble  over  rocks." 

Thus  they  walked  along,  keeping  to  the  path 
where  it  was  not  overflowed,  and,  where  it  was 
overflowed,  finding  some  other  way  around 
or  over  the  rocks  upon  the  bank,  and  some- 
times among  the  trees  and  bushes.  They 
stopped  very  frequently  to  admire  the  cas- 
cades and  water-falls  which  occured  where 
the  rocks  were  steep  or  the  water  shallow, 
and  the  whirling  eddies  which  were  formed 
in  the  deep  places.  At  one  place  there  was 
a  great  boiling  whirlpool,  where  the  water 
seemed  to  move  round  and  round  in  great 
circles,  and  finally  to  escape  in  a  great  tor- 
rent between  two  rocks  below.  Malleville 
and  Mary  Bejl  amused  themselves  for  some 
time  in  throwing  sticks  in  above  this  whirlpool, 
each  of  them  throwing  in  one  at  the  same  in- 
stant, and  then  watching  them  as  they  sailed 
down  into  the  whirlpool  and  revolved  round  and 
round  in  it,  in  order  to  see  which  should  first 


The   Inundation.  57 

They  find  Phonny  and  Carlo  at  the  grotto. 

make  its  escape  through  the  outlet  between  the 
two  rocks,  and  go  away  down  the  stream. 
They  called  these  sticks  their  ships.  Some- 
times Malleville's  ships  beat  in  these  contests, 
and  sometimes  Mary  Bell's. 

At  last,  the  children  reached  the  grotto. 
They  found  Phonny  seated  inside  of  it,  upon  one 
of  the  stone  seats.  It  was  now  a  long  time  since 
these  seats  had  been  placed  there,  and  the  moss 
which  Mary  Bell  had  put  in,  all  around  them, 
had  grown  so  much  that  they  seemed  em- 
bedded in  verdure,  and  presented  thus  a  very 
beautiful  appearance.  Phonny  had  seen  Malle- 
ville  and  Mary  Bell  coming  up  the  brook,  and 
he  had  been  watching  them  from  the  grotto  for 
some  time.  Carlo  too,  who  had  become  tired 
of  swimming  about,  had  come  to  the  grotto- 
door,  and  was  now  lying  there  at  his  ease, 
with  his  fore-paws  extended  out  straight  before 
him. 

Phonny  said  that  he  had  been  up  the  brook 
a  great  deal  farther,  and  that  he  had  found  some 
beautiful  cascades  and  water-falls ;  and  that  in 
one  place  he  had  found  an  island.  Malleville 
at  once  wished  to  go  and  see  these  places ;  and 
as  Phonny  said  that  there  was  no  difficulty 
about  the  way,  the  whole  party  set  out  to  go  up 


58  Mary  Bell. 


Phonny's  island.  The  stepping-stones. 

the  brook,  Phonny  preceding  them  as  guide- 
There  was  indeed,  as  Phonny  had  said,  no  diffi- 
culty about  the  way;  but  after  they  reached 
the  island  which  Phonny  had  discovered,  they 
became  involved  in  quite  a  serious  difficulty 
and  one  too,  of  a  very  singular  character. 
The  circumstances  were  as  follows  : 

They  found,  when  they  arrived  at  the  island, 
that  at  that  point  the  adjacent  shores  of  the 
brook  were  comparatively  flat  and  low,  so  that 
the  island  was,  in  fact,  in  ordinary  times  a  sort  of 
rocky  promontory,  with  trees  and  bushes  upon 
it.  This  promontory  was,  however,  so  near 
the  brook  on  one  side,  and  so  surrounded  on  the 
other  sides  with  low  land,  that  the  water  had 
now  extended  quite  around  it,  and  thus  had 
made  it  an  island.  It  was,  however,  easy  to 
get  to  it  by  means  of  stepping-stones  which 
Phonny  had  pointed  out,  and  so  all  the  children 
went  over  upon  the  island,  and  finding  a  pleas- 
ant place  upon  the  rocks  on  the  side  toward 
the  brook,  they  all  went  and  sat  down  there. 
Carlo  followed  them,  and  sat  down  too. 

They  had  not  sat  there  long,  before  they  ob- 
served that  Carlo  seemed  to  be  watching  the 
water  with  a  somewhat  excited  air,  as  if  he  saw 
something  unusual  in  it. 


The   Inundation.  59 

Carlo's  strange  excitement. 

"What  is  the  matter,  Carlo?"  said  Mary 
Bell. 

"  He  sees  something  in  the  water,"  said 
Phonny.  "  I  expect  it  is  a  fish.  A  trout  per- 
haps." 

So  saying  Phonny  got  up  from  his  seat,  and 
began  looking  very  intensely  into  the  water,  in 
search  of  the  trout. 

Carlo  rose  also  and  began  to  bark.  He 
looked  very  wild  too,  and  moved  to  and  fro 
very  uneasily. 

"  What  can  it  be  ?"  said  Malleville. 

"  I'll  tell  you ;"  said  Phonny ;  "  it  must  be  a 
mink,  or  an  otter,  or  some  kind  of  wild  animal, 
drowned  out  of  his  hole  by  the  deluge." 

Carlo  ran  off  round  behind  the  island,  and 
presently  came  back  again  all  covered  with 
water,  and,  standing  directly  in  front  of  the 
children  he  shook  himself  with  the  utmost  en- 
ergy, as  dogs  do  when  coming  out  of  the  water. 
This,  of  course,  sprinkled  them  all  over,  and 
they  jumped  up,  with  screams  and  shouts  of 
laughter,  to  run  away.  Carlo  immediately  ran 
off  too,  passing  round  behind  the  island  again, 
and  disappearing  as  he  had  done  before. 

Just  then  Mary  Bell  happened  to  observe 
that  the  water  in  the  brook  was  much  higher 


60  Mary   Bell, 


Difficulty.  A  consternation. 

then  it  was  when  they  had  first  sat  down.  A 
stone  upon  which  she  had  put  her  feet  at  first 
was  now  entirely  covered. 

"  Why  Phonny,"  said  she,  "  the  brook  is  ris- 
ing. What  can  that  mean?  Run!  we  must 
get  off  this  island  as  soon  as  we  can." 

The  whole  party  accordingly  hurried  along 
in  the  direction  which  Carlo  had  taken,  round 
to  that  side  of  the  island  which  was  toward  the 
land,  but  they  found  that  it  was  too  late.  The 
water,  from  some  cause  or  other,  had  suddenly 
risen,  and  had  spread  over  all  the  low  land  of 
the  shore,  in  such  a  manner  that  it  was  not  pos- 
sible for  them  to  escape.  It  seemed  to  be  rising 
higher  and  higher  too,  every  minute.  Carlo, 
apparently  half  distracted,  was  swimming  back 
and  forth  from  the  land  to  the  shore,  barking, 
and  expressing  in  every  way  the  extreme  ap- 
prehension and  distress  that  he  felt  for  the  safety 
of  the  children. 

Malleville  and  Phonny  were  thrown  into  a 
state  of  absolute  consternation  at  "finding  them- 
selves, as  they  thought,  about  to  be  overwhelmed 
by  such  an  inundation,  and  began  to  cry  and 
scream  in  the  most  frightful  manner.  Even 
Mary  Bell  at  first  looked  somewhat  alarmed. 
She,  however,  soon  recovered  her  composure, 


The   Inundation.  61 

Mary  Bell's  reproof.  Phonny  proposes  to  call  for  help. 

and  tried  to  quiet  the  children.  She  rebuked 
them  quite  decidedly  for  the  childish  folly  of 
making  such  an  outcry. 

"  Why,  Mary  Bell,"  said  Phonny,  in  justifica- 
tion of  himself,  as  soon  as  he  had  so  far  recov- 
ered the  use  of  his  faculties  as  to  be  able  to 
speak,  "  we  shall  all  be  drowned." 

"  No  matter,"  said  Mary  Bell.  "  Drowning 
is  an  easy  death.  At  any  rate,  it  is  as  easy  to 
drown  still,  as  it  is  to  drown  screaming." 

Phonny  laughed.  Malleville  looked  aston- 
ished and  bewildered,  and  they  both  became 
still. 

"  But  what  shall  we  do  ?"  asked  Malleville, 
in  a  tone  of  despair. 

"  I  am  sure  I  don't  know,"  said  Mary  Bell. 
"  I  have  not  had  time  to  think  yet.  But  there 
is  one  thing  I  know,  and  that  is,  that  we  are 
not  in  any  real  danger.  The  water  can  not 
possibly  come  up  to  the  top  of  this  island." 

Mary  Bell  looked  down  at  the  shore  again  as 
she  said  this.  It  was  plain  that  the  water  was 
rising  quite  fast.  It  had  come  up  several  inches 
within  a  very  few  minutes. 

"  We'd  better  scream,"  said  Phonny.  "  Then, 
perhaps,  somebody  will  hear  us  and  come  and 
help  us  get  off." 


62  Mary  Bell. 


Mary  Bell's  plan.  Carlo  goes  for  Joseph. 

"  No,"  said  Mary  Bell,  "  I'll  send  Carlo  home 
after  Joseph.  Joseph  often  sends  him  home 
after  things,  and  he  will  go  and  get  them  if  he 
is  only  in  the  mood  for  it.  I'll  send  him  for 
Joseph  himself." 

So  saying,  Mary  Bell  turned  to  Carlo,  who 
just  then  came  up  to  her  from  the  water,  and 
said  to  him,  not  in  a  loud  or  severe  tone,  but  in 
the  gentle  and  quiet  manner  in  which  she  had 
heard  Joseph  give  him  such  commands,  point- 
ing at  the  same  time  with  her  finger  in  the 
proper  direction. 

"  Go  home,  Carlo.  Go  home  and  bring  Jo- 
seph." 

Carlo  plunged  into  the  stream  and  swam  to 
the  shore.  As  soon  as  he  had  got  out  of  the 
stream,  and  had  secured  a  firm  footing  on  the 
land,  he  stopped  a  moment  to  shake  the  water 
out  of  his  hair,  and  then  bounded  away  at  the 
top  of  his  speed,  down  the  brook.  He  went  on 
at  a  headlong  rate,  leaping  chasms,  clambering 
up  steep  acclivities,  and  swimming  across  the 
little  bays  and  pools  of  water  from  the  brook 
which  came  in  the  way,  until  at  length  he 
reached  the  gate  which  opened  from  the  lane. 
He  pushed  this  gate  open,  and  dashed  through. 
He  ran  then  along  the  lane  toward  the  house, 


The    Inundation.  63 

Carlo  tries  to  make  Joseph  understand. 

where,  by  great  good  fortune,  he  met  Joseph  just 
coming  out  of  the  door  to  go  into  the  garden. 
He  ran  up  to  him,  barking  very  loud,  and  when 

f  he  saw  that  he  had  attracted  his  attention,  he 
turned  and  ran  toward  the  brook,  looking  back 
to  see  if  Joseph  was  following  him.  But  Jo- 
seph, who  had  no  idea  that  all  this  excitement 
was  any  thing  more  than  one  of  the  fits  of  play- 
fulness which  Carlo  occasionally  assumed  of  his 
own  accord,  went  on  toward  the  garden.  Carlo 
then  came  back,  barking  and  leaping  up  to  Jo 
seph,  and  attempting  to  seize  him  by  the  arm. 
Joseph  ordered  him  down,  and  to  enforce  his 
orders,  he  attempted  to  box  Carlo's  ears.  As 
Carlo  was  leaping  and  jumping  about  him  all 
the  time,  Joseph  found  it  difficult  to  hit  him, 
and  in  his  efforts  to  do  this,  his  hat  fell  off. 
Carlo  seized  the  hat  and  ran,  looking  round 
now  and  then  to  see  if  Joseph  was  following. 

r  Joseph  did  follow,  of  course,  in  order  to  re- 
cover his  hat.  He  picked  up  a  stone  to  throw 
at  Carlo,  to  compel  him  to  give  up  the  hat. 
But  this  only  made  Carlo  run  the  faster. 

At  length  Carlo  reached  the  gate,  and  pulled 
it  open  with  his  paw,  and  then  ran  through, 
turning  his  head  a  moment,  as  he  entered,  to  see 
if  Joseph  was  still  coming. 


64  Mary  Bell. 


Joseph  rescues  the  children. 


By  this  time  Joseph  began  to  think  that  there 
must  be  some  cause  for  such  singular  behavior 
on  the  part  of  the  dog,  and  he  determined  to 
follow  him  without  any  more  hesitation  or  de- 
lay. Carlo  led  him  down  to  the  brook,  and 
Joseph,  the  moment  that  he  saw  the  very  un- 
usual height  of  the  water,  was  immediately  con- 
vinced that  something  extraordinary  had  hap- 
pened. He  pressed  on,  accordingly,  after  Carlo, 
as  fast  as  he  could  go,  and  was  thus  conducted 
to  the  place  where  his  assistance  was  so  much 
needed.  Carlo  dropped  the  hat  upon  the  ground 
the  moment  that  Joseph  came  in  sight  of  the 
children. 

Joseph  had  no  difficulty  in  rescuing  the  chil- 
dren from  their  unpleasant  situation.  He  wa- 
ded out  to  the  island,  and  brought  them  to  the 
shore,  one  after  another,  in  his  arms.  In  fact, 
as  the  water  on  that  side  of  the  island  was  not 
more  than  a  foot  deep,  they  might  all  have 
walked  to  the  shore  themselves,  without  any 
other  inconvenience  than  giving  their  feet  a 
bathing. 

Mary  Bell  was  very  much  surprised  that  the 
water  should  have  risen  in  the  brook  so  rapidly 
and  so  suddenly,  when  the  rain  had  ceased  to 
fall  a  day  or  two  before,  and  the  waters  had  ap- 


The  Inundation.  65 


Cause  of  the  inundation. 


peared  to  be  subsiding.  The  cause  was,  that  a 
mill-dam,  which  was  situated  upon  the  brook, 
about  a  mile  above  her  grotto,  had  been  under- 
mined by  the  pressure  of  the  freshet,  and  finally 
gave  way  just  about  the  time  that  she  com- 
menced her  walk,  so  as  to  let  all  the  water  in 
the  mill-pond  come  down  in  a  body.  The  in- 
undation was  just  beginning  to  reach  the  island 
at  the  time  that  the  children  took  their  seats 
upon  it. 

E 


66  Mary  Bell. 


Mary  Bell.  Flowers.  Her  garden. 


Chapter    IV. 

Planning. 

It  was  a  peculiar  trait  in  the  character  of 
Mary  Bell,  that  in  all  her  plans  of  amusement 
and  occupation  she  looked  forward  more  than 
most  other  girls  of  her  age  would  have  done. 
She  was  not  satisfied  in  anything  that  she  did, 
with  mere  present  and  momentary  pleasure,  but 
almost  always  aimed  at  something  lasting  and 
permanent  in  the  results.  Other  girls,  when 
wandering  with  her  in  the  woods,  would  be  con- 
tented to  gather  the  wild  flowers  and  the  pretty 
mosses  which  they  found  by  the  way,  to 
arrange  in  boquets ;  but  Mary  Bell  always 
wished  to  get  the  roots  of  the  plants  which 
pleased  her,  and  these  roots,  when  she  had 
brought  them  home,  she  would  plant  among 
the  stones  around  the  wall,  or  under  the  old 
stone  walls,  and  among  the  bushes  whicn  ex- 
tended along  the  lane.  In  her  garden  she  took 
greater  interest  in  raising  little  oaks  and  apple- 
trees,  and  other  such  permanent  plants,  than 
in  cultivating   annual   flowers,   which,  though 


Planning.  67 


Th3  grove  of  oaks.  Mary  Bell's  desire  to  learn. 

sometimes  very  beautiful,  were  too  frail  and 
ephemeral  in  their  nature  for  her  to  attach  any 
great  value  to  them. 

Mary  Bell  had  a  little  grove  of  oaks  in  one 
corner  of  the  garden,  which  she  had  raised  from 
the  acorn.  They  were  now  four  years  old,  and 
higher  than  her  head.  She  was  going  very  soon 
to  have  a  seat  made  under  them.  She  had  sev- 
eral apple  and  pear-trees  growing  in  various 
parts  of  the  garden,  which  were  now  almost 
ready  to  bear ;  and  an  orange-tree,  and  a  lem- 
on-tree, in  pots,  which  she  had  raised  from  the 
seed.  In  fact,  her  long  and  patient  labor  upon 
her  grotto,  and  upon  the  road  leading  to  it  along 
the  brook,  was  a  striking  example  of  the  inter- 
est which  she  felt  in  operations  of  a  permanent 
and  lasting  character. 

She  took  a  great  interest,  too,  in  learning 
every  little  accomplishment  and  art  that  she  had 
the  opportunity  to  acquire,  which  might  by  any 
possibility  ever  be  of  use  to  her.  Whenever  she 
witnessed  the  performance  of  any  art  with  which 
the  was  unacquainted,  such  as  any  new  mode 
of  netting,  or  drawing,  or  new  style  of  embroid- 
ery, or  fancy-work  of  any  kind,  she  always 
watched  the  process  with  very  close  and  care- 
ful attention,  in  order  that  she  might  be  able  to 


68  Mary  Bell. 


Th  >  silk  purse.  Mary  Bell  and  Caroline. 

imitate  it ;  while  other  young  ladies  would 
oftener  be  satisfied  with  begging  a  specimen  of 
the  work  itself  from  the  one  who  was  executing 
it.  One  day,  for  instance,  while  Mary  Bell  was 
visiting  her  friend  Caroline,  there  was  a  lady 
there  from  Nr.w  York,  Caroline's  aunt  Grace, 
who  was  netting  a  beautiful  silk  purse,  by  a 
new  and  ingenious  stitch  which  she  had  just 
learned  at  the  city.  Caroline  and  Mary  Bell 
both  sat  by  the  side  of  Miss  Grace  for  some 
time,  while  she  was  at  her  work,  both  very  in- 
tently interested  in  it,  but  in  very  different 
ways.  Caroline  paid  no  attention  to  the  pro- 
cess, but  was  continually  taking  hold  of  that 
part  of  the  purse  which  was  finished,  and  ex- 
pressing her  admiration  of  the  figure,  and  of  the 
beautiful  arrangement  of  the  colors :  while 
Mary  Bell,  on  the  other  hand,  watched  the  mo- 
tion of  Miss  Grace's  fingers,  examined  very 
closely  the  form  of  the  needle,  and  the  manner 
in  which  the  stitches  were  made  by  it.  Instead 
of  asking  Miss  Grace  to  make  her  a  purse,  her 
request  would  have  been,  if  she  had  made  any 
request  at  all,  that  Miss  Grace  would  allow  her 
to  take  the  needle  for  a  few  minutes,  and  some 
of  the  silk,  and  teach  her  the  stitch,  in  order 
that  she  might  make  purses  for  herself.     Miss 


Planning.  69 


Mary  Bell  tries  to  nett. 


Grace  observed,  after  a  time,  how  deeply  inter- 
ested Mary  Bell  was  in  the  process,  and  so  she 
put  her  work  into  Mary  Bell's  hands,  saying, 

"  Try  it,  Mary  Bell.  You  can  do  it  very 
easily." 

But  Mary  Bell  was  afraid  that  she  should 
spoil  the  purse.  * 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  Miss  Grace.  "  And  if  you  do 
make  the  stitches  wrong,  it  is  of  no  conse- 
quence, for  I  can  easily  take  them  out  again." 

So  Mary  Bell  took  the  work  into  her  hands, 
and  as  she  had  previously  studied  every  part  of 
the  process  so  attentively,  she  knew  exactly 
what  to  do ;  and  with  a  very  little  additional 
instruction  from  Miss  Grace,  she  soon  succeeded 
perfectly  well. 

Miss  Grace  then  proposed  that  Caroline 
should  make  the  attempt,  but  Caroline  was 
rather  unwilling  to  try. 

"  I  cannot  do  it,"  said  she,  "  I  know." 

"  But  why  should  not  you  do  it,  as  well  as 
Mary  Bell  ?"  asked  Miss  Grace.  "  You  have 
been  looking  over  me  and  seeing  me  work  as 
long  as  she." 

It  was  true  that  Caroline  had  been  looking 
over  as  long  as  Mary  Bell,  but  she  had  not  been 
seeing  Miss  Grace  work  at  all.     That  was  a 


70  Mary   Bell. 


Caroline's  failure.  The  reason  of  Mary  Bell's  success. 


part  of  the  spectacle  to  which  she  had  paid  no 
attention.  However,  as  she  did  not  quite  like 
to  be  outdone  by  Mary  Bell,  she  took  the  netting 
into  her  hands ;  but  when  she  had  taken  it,  she 
had  not  the  slightest  idea  what  she  was  to  do. 

After  making  some  awkward  and  blundering 
attempts,  in  which  her  aunt  Grace  in  vain  at- 
tempted to  guide  her  by  continual  explanations, 
Caroline  gave  it  up,  and  put  the  work  back  into 
her  aunt's  hands,  saying  that  she  never  could 
learn  to  do  any  such  thing  as  that,  though  some 
how  or  other  it  was  always  very  easy  to  Mary 
Bell. 

The  reason  why  Mary  Bell  succeeded  so  much 
better  than  Caroline  in  such  attempts,  was  sim- 
ply because  she  knew  how,  first  to  direct  her  at- 
tention to  the  points  on  which  success  depended, 
and  then  patiently  and  perseveringly  to  pursue 
the  course  which  her  observation  had  thus  dis- 
covered. She  was  assisted,  it  is  true/in  doing 
any  new  thing  which  presented  itself,  by  the 
habit  of  dexterity  which  her  fingers  had  ac- 
quired in  learning  how  to  do  so  many  other 
things  before.  For  in  respect  to  progress  in 
learning,  it  is  the  same  with  manipulations  and 
feats  of  dexterity  as  with  attainments  more 
strictly  intellectual.    The  more  we  have  learned 


Planning.  71 


All  knowledge  will  come  into  use. 


in  times  past  the  more  easy  it  is  to  learn  in 
times  to  come.  A  boy  who  has  learned  to  play 
upon  the  flute,  will  afterwards  learn  to  play 
upon  the  bass-viol  much  more  easily,  on  ac- 
count of  the  flexibility,  and  the  habit  of  obedi- 
ence to  his  will,  which  his  fingers  will  have  ac- 
quired. And  it  sometimes  happens  that  when  a 
performer,  skilled  in  playing  on  various  instru- 
ments of  different  kinds,  is  unexpectedly  offered 
a  new  one  wThich  he  had  never  seen  before, 
he  will  play  upon  it  quite  respectably  at  once, 
without  an)'  previous  practice  at  all.  This 
principle  should  operate  as  a  great  encourage- 
ment to  young  persons,  to  be  always  at  work 
learning  something,  knowing  that  whatever  it 
is  it  will  be  certainly  useful  to  them.  For  if 
what  they  learn  should  prove  to  be  of  no  special 
service  on  its  own  account,  it  will  be  of  advan- 
tage in  enabling  them  to  learn  something  else 
more  easily. 

Mary  Bell  had  not  only  a  great  deal  of  per- 
sonal dexterity  in  such  arts  and  accomplish- 
ments as  we  have  been  describing,  but  she 
evinced  also  much  skill  in  devising  and  arrang- 
ing extended  plans  of  amusement  for  the  other 
children ;  though  she  always  did  this  in  a  very 
quiet   and   unobtrusive   manner,   so  as  not  to 


72  Mary   Bell. 


Mary  Bell's  planning.  The 

bring  herself  particularly  into  notice  in  them,  or 
to  make  herself  in  any  way  the  subject  of  ob- 
servation. When  she  planned  and  executed 
her  grotto  and  the  road  leading  to  it,  she  was 
quite  young,  and  she  then  had  no  objection  to 
working  diligently  in  the  open  air,  lifting  and 
carrying  stones,  and  digging  in  the  ground. 
But  when  she  became  eleven  and  twelve  years 
old,  her  taste  changed  in  respect  to  such  labors. 
She  began  to  consider  them  too  masculine,  that 
is,  too  boyish,  for  her ;  and  though  she  still  took 
great  interest  in  such  improvements,  she  no 
longer  undertook  to  execute  them  with  her  own 
hands.  Still  she  would  very  often  plan  and 
direct  them,  and  even  sometimes,  though  al- 
ways in  a  quiet  and  unassuming  way,  superin- 
tend the  execution  of  them  by  the  hands  of 
others.  One  of  these  plans, — the  making  of  a 
road  up  the  Peak, — it  is  necessary  here  to  de- 
scribe, on  account  of  certain  occurrences  con- 
nected with  it,  which  are  tc  be  narrated  in  a 
subsequent  chapter. 

The  Peak  was  a  lofty  rocky  pinnacle,  which 
almost  overhung  the  village.  It  was  the  termi- 
nation of  a  spur  or  projection  which  branched 
from  a  range  of  mountains  that  was  near. 
The  summit  of  it  was  a  very  pleasant  place 


Planning.  73 


f  he  view  from  the  Peak.  The  pathway. 

when  it  was  once  attained,  as  it  afforded  a  mag^ 
nificent  point  of  view  for  the  survey  of  the 
whole  surrounding  country.  From  a  great  flat 
rock,  which  was  near  the  summit,  one  could  see 
the  village,  the  pond,  the  outlet  stream,  winding 
its  way  from  the  pond  to  the  river,  and  the 
river  itself,  meandering  down  the  valley,  look- 
ing down  upon  the  whole  as  upon  a  map.  It 
was,  however,  very  difficult  to  get  up  to  this 
rock.  There  was  indeed  a  sort  of  pathway 
leading  there,  but  in  some  places  this  pathway 
was  encumbered  with  bushes  and  brambles  ;  at 
other  places,  where  springs  oozed  from  the 
mountain,  it  was  wet  and  miry.  In  one  part 
of  the  way  there  was  a  little  brook  which  ran 
along  for  a  considerable  distance  in  the  middle 
of  the  path — at  a  place,  too,  where  there  was  no 
room  to  walk  on  either  side.  Near  the  top  of 
the  ascent,  moreover,  there  was  quite  a  long 
way  where  the  track  led  over  heaps  of  loose 
stones,  which  sank  down,  more  or  less,  whenever 
any  body  stepped  upon  them,  and  seemed  some- 
times as  if  they  were  all  upon  the  point  of  slid- 
ing down  the  hill  together. 

The  plan  of  making  a  better  road  up  to  the 
Peak  was  first  proposed  at  a  launching.  One 
of  the  bovs  whose  name  was  Parker,  had  con- 


74  Mary  Bell. 


The  proposed  lanching.  The  ways.  The  rollers.  Delay. 

trived,  by  the  help  of  a  sailor  that  was  straying 
through  the  country,  and  had  stopped  to  work 
for  a  while  at  his  father's,  to  build  and  rig  a  lit- 
tle ship,  about  two  feet  long.  Parker  was  now 
going  to  have  a  lanching  of  this  ship.  The 
lanching  was  to  take  place  on  the  banks  of  a 
small  brook  which  flowed  through  a  pleasant 
field  in  the  rear  of  his  father's  garden.  Parker 
invited  the  girls  and  boys  of  his  acquaintance 
to  come  and  see  this  lanching.  When  the 
afternoon  arrived  the  children  all  assembled, 
girls  and  boys,  some  young  and  some  old ;  and 
while  Parker  and  his  assistants  were  engaged 
in  fixing  the  ways  as  they  are  called,  in  their 
places,  getting  the  rollers  ready,  and  making 
the  other  necessary  preparations,  the  children 
sat  on  the  stones  and  grassy  banks  around, 
amusing  themselves  in  watching  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  ship  carpenters  and  in  conversation. 
The  Peak  was  very  near  them,  towering 
sublimely  toward  the  sky. 

Parker  met  with  some  unexpected  difficul- 
ties in  completing  his  arrangements.  This  oc- 
casioned delay.  The  children  began  to  be  im- 
patient. Caroline,  who  was  there  with  the 
rest,  endeavored  to  hurry  the  preparations,  say- 
ing, 


Planning.  75 


Caroline  and  Mary  Bell.  Plan  for  amusing  the  children. 

"Come,  Parker,  make  haste.  We  are  all 
tred  of  waiting." 

This  only  increased  Parker's  agitation  and 
perplexity,  and  hindered  the  work  instead  of 
Aastening  it.  Caroline  did  not  intend  to  pro- 
duce any  such  effect.  She  merely  spoke  with- 
out proper  consideration. 

Mary  Bell,  on  the  other  hand,  felt  sponta- 
\eously  a  desire  rather  to  diminish  than  to  in- 
3rease  the  pressure  upon  Parker's  mind;  and 
his  she  thought  she  could  perhaps  do,  by  turn- 
ing the  attention  of  the  party  who  were  wait- 
:ng,  away  a  little  from  the  preparations  for  the 
lanch,  and  amusing  them  with  something  else. 
She  concluded  to  begin  with  the  younger  chil- 
dren. So  she  took  Malleville  and  another  girl 
of  about  Malleville's  age,  by  the  hand,  and  led 
them  away  a  few  steps  to  a  place  where  the 
path  was  very  broad  and  smooth. 

"  Now,"  said  she,  "  let  us  see  how  many  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  plants  we  can  find  growing 
about  here,  and  lay  one  specimen  of  each  kind 
down  in  this  path,  in  a  row.  How  many  do 
you  think  we  can  find  ?" 

"  Oh,  I  can  find  a  great  many,"  said  Malle- 
ville.    "  I  can  find  ten." 

"  They  must  be  all  pretty  specimens,"  said 


76  Mary   Bell. 


The  collection  of  plants.  Waiting  for  the  lanching. 

Mary  Bell,  "  and  about  as  long  as  your  thumb. 
And  you  must  not  have  two  alike." 

So  saying,  Mary  Bell  took  out  from  the  grass 
two  little  sprigs  of  different  kinds,  and  yet  both 
pretty  and  graceful  in  form,  and  laid  them  down 
in  the  path,  about  six  inches  apart.  This  was 
for  the  beginning  of  the  row. 

"  Now,"  continued  Mary  Bell,  "  go  on  and 
find  as  many  as  you  can.  But  before  you  put 
any  down,  examine  all  that  are  already  in  the 
row  very  carefully,  so  as  to  be  sure  and  not  put 
down  two  of  the  same  kind." 

Malleville  and  her  playmate  immediately  be- 
gan the  work  thus  assigned  them  with  a  great 
deal  of  apparent  interest  and  pleasure.  The 
other  younger  children  soon  came  to  see  what 
was  going  on,  and  began  eagerly,  one  after  an- 
other, to  join  in  the  work  ;  and  at  last,  when 
Mary  Bell  had  got  them  all  wTell  engaged  in  it, 
she  left  them,  saying  that  she  would  return  by 
and  by  and  see  how  long  a  row  they  had  made. 
She  then  went  back  to  the  rest  of  the  party. 

She  sat  down  with  them  upon  the  grassy 
bank,  and  began  to  listen  to  their  conversation. 
They  were  nearly  all  girls ;  all,  in  fact,  except- 
ing one.  The  boys,  excepting  this  one,  whose 
name  was  Arthur,  were   all   around   the  ship, 


Planning.  77 


Caroline's  impatience.  Arthur's  wish.  Flying. 

attending  to  the  preparations  for  the  lanching. 
Caroline  was  the  oldest  of  the  girls  who  were 
present,  though  there  were  others  of  nearly  her 
age.  The  girls  happened  just  to  have  exhausted 
the  subject  which  they  had  been  talking  about, 
when  Mary  Bell  joined  them,  and  then  there 
was  a  moment's  pause. 

"  Oh  dear  me !"  said  Caroline.  "  How  long 
they  are  in  getting  their  lanching  ready.  I 
wish  they  would  begin.  But,  Mary  Bell,  what 
have  you  been  setting  those  little  girls  to  doing?" 

Mary  Bell  laughed,  but  did  not  reply. 

"  How  magnificent  the  Peak  looks  this  after- 
noon!" continued  Caroline. 

"  Yes,"  said  Arthur.  "  I  wish  we  were  up 
there.  If  I  could  fly,  I  would  go  right  up 
now — " 

Here  Arthur  suspended  his  sentence  a  mo- 
ment, while  he  picked  up  a  stone  from  the  ground 
near  him,  and  throwing  it  with  all  his  force  into 
the  air,  in  the  direction  of  the  summit  of  the 
Peak,  he  finished  his  speech  by  adding,  as  the 
stone  flew  swiftly  toward  the  sky, 

"  Like  that." 

"  The  path  might  be  made  a  very  good  path, 
quite  easily,  I  think,"  said  Mary  Bell. 

"  Who  could  do  it  ?"  asked  Caroline. 


78  Mary   Bell. 


Mary  Bell's  proposal  to  make  a  path  up  to  the  Peak. 

"  The  boys,''  said  Mary  Bell. 

"  The  boys !"  repeated  Caroline,  in  a  tone  of 
contempt.  "  They  are  too  fond  of  play  to  spend 
their  time  in  such  work  as  that,  I  can  assure 
you." 

"  I  think  they  would  like  to  do  it,"  rejoined 
Mary  Bell,  "  if  there  was  a  plan  formed,  and  the 
work  was  arranged  for  them.'' 

"  Well,  there  is  nobody  to  do  that,"  replied 
Caroline. 

"  Yes,"  said  Mary  Bell,  "  you  could  do  it." 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  Caroline.  "  I  am  not  good  at 
forming  plans.  And,  besides,  I  don't  believe 
that  the  boys  would  do  the  work,  if  I  should 
form  the  plan.     I'll  ask  them.     Boys!" 

"No,  stop,"  said  Mary  Bell.  "Don't  ask 
them  yet.  Wait  till  you  have  formed  the  plan. 
Besides,  they  are  too  much  engaged  about  the 
ship  now,  to  attend  to  any  thing  else." 

"  Well,  what  sort  of  a  plan  could  I  form," 
asked  Caroline. 

"  Why  you  might  divide  the  path  into  four 
or  five  parts,"  replied  Mary  Bell,  "  and  let  two 
girls  take  a  part." 

"  Two  boys,  you  mean,"  said  Caroline.  "  Girls 
could  not  do  the  work." 

"  True,"  said  Mary  Bell,  "  but   girls  might 


Planning.  79 


Conversation  on  the  subject.  Details  of  the  plan. 

take  the  responsibility.  They  could  get  their 
brothers  to  do  the  work ;  and  then  they  might 
carry  up  ckink  and  refreshments  to  them  while 
they  were  doing  it." 

"  But  some  of  us  have  not  got  any  brothers," 
said  Caroline. 

"  Then  we  must  get  our  cousins,"  replied 
Mary  Bell,  "  or  some  other  friends  among  the 
boys  to  do  our  share." 

"  Well,"  said  Caroline,  "  I  think  it  is  a  very 
good  plan." 

"  You  might  have  each  of  the  divisions  of  the 
path  marked  at  the  beginning  of  it,  by  a  stone 
— a  large  stone,  with  a  smooth  face  to  it — for  a 
monument.  The  boys  could  easily  set  up  such 
a  stone.  The  number  of  the  division  might  be 
marked  on  it,  and  the  initial  letters  of  the  girls 
that  had  the  care  of  that  division." 

"Yes,"  said  Caroline,  "so  we  could." 

"  Only  there  must  be  a  greater  monument," 
continued  Mary  Bell,  "  at  the  top,  for  your  name 
to  be  marked  upon,  alone  ;  because  you  would 
have  the  general  charge  and  supervision  of  the 
whole  work." 

"  Oh,  no !"  said  Caroline.  "  I  should  not  like 
to  have  my  name  in  such  a  public  place." 

"  Why,  it  would  not  be  your  full  name,  you 


80  Mary   Bell. 


Monuments.  The  collation.  Ready  for  the  lanch. 

know,"  rejoined  Mary  Bell,  "  only  your  initials, 
perhaps  only  C,  for  Caroline,  or  C.  R.,  for  Car- 
oline Regina,  that  is,  Caroline  the  queen  ;  for 
you  would  be  queen  of  the  whole  affair.  And 
besides,  the  monument  need  not  be  in  any  very 
public  place.  It  might  be  a  little  secluded  in 
some  situation  near  the  end  of  the  path." 

Caroline  had  now  become  very  much  inter- 
ested in  the  plan,  and  was  quite  eager  to  call 
the  attention  of  the  boys  to  it  at  once.  But 
Mary  Bell  told  her  that  they  seemed  to  be  now 
almost  ready  for  the  lanching,  and  so  persua- 
ded her  to  wait  until  the  time  of  the  collation, 
before  bringing  forward  the  plan.  Parker  had 
arranged  a  collation  in  a  little  grove  near  by, 
to  which  his  company  were  to  be  invited  as 
soon  as  the  lanching  should  have  been  accom- 
plished. The  end  of  the  collation,  Mary  Bell 
said,  would  be  the  very  best  possible  time  for 
proposing  any  new  plan. 

Very  soon  after  this,  the  whole  party  heard 
the  very  welcome  call  from  Parker,  of 

"  Come,  girls,  we  are  all  ready." 

The  place  which  had  been  chosen  for  the 
lanching,  was  a  point  where  the  water,  after 
flowing  smoothly  in  a  straight  channel  for  some 
length,  forming  a  sort  of  basin,  turned  suddenly 


Planning.  81 


Arrangements  for  anchoring  the  ship. 


to  the  left,  and  fell  over  rocky  cascades.  The 
ways  were  laid  at  this  bend,  and  were  pointed 
up  the  stream,  so  that  the  vessel  should  be  sent 
forward  up  the  basin  ;  and  as  there  was  a  long 
reach  of  smooth  water  in  this  direction,  the 
boys  thought  that  the  ship  would  have  space  to 
shoot  forward  as  far  as  it  pleased.  In  order, 
however,  to  prevent  its  striking  the  land  at  the 
upper  end  of  the  sheet  of  water,  and  also  for 
the  purpose  of  bringing  the  lanch  to  a  scien- 
tific and  proper  termination,  Parker  had  ar- 
ranged an  anchor  at  the  bows  of  the  vessel, 
which  was  to  be  let  go  at  the  proper  time,  and 
was  expected  to  bring  the  vessel  to  a  state  of 
rest. 

Tt  is  obvious  that  as  the  vessel  was  too  small 
to  allow  of  any  living  sailor  being  on  board, 
some  plan  different  from  the  usual  one  must  be 
devised  for  letting  go  this  anchor.  The  plan 
which  Parker  contrived  was  this. 

He  stationed  a  boy  upon  the  bank  of  the 
brook,  about  mid- way  of  the  space  over  which 
the  vessel  was  expected  to  glide,  at  a  place 
where  there  was  a  stone  that  he  could  sit  upon 
at  his  ease,  and  gave  him  the  end  of  a  black 
thread  to  hold  in  his  hand.  The  other  end  of 
the  thread  was  passed  to  the  vessel,  and  there 


82  Mary   Bell. 


Mode  of  dropping  the  anchor.  The  lanch  successful. 

attached  to  a  small  stick,  or  little  bar  of  wood 
which  was  laid  upon  the  bows.  The  anchor 
was  laid  across  this  little  stick,  and  the  thread 
was  fastened  to  the  farthest  end  of  it  in  such  a 
manner  that  when  the  thread  was  pulled,  the 
stick  would  be  lifted  up  and  the  anchor  hove 
overboard.  All  this  arrangement  was  kept 
profoundly  secret  from  the  girls, — as  they  were 
not  on  any  account  to  know  by  what  means  the 
anchor  was  dropped.  The  boy  who  held  the 
end  of  the  string  was  to  assume  an  unconcerned 
and  indifferent  air,  as  if  he  had  no  active  part 
to  perform  himself,  but  was  a  mere  spectator ; 
and  when  the  command  should  be  given  by 
Parker  to  let  go  the  anchor,  he  was  to  give  the 
thread  a  gentle  pull,  holding  the  hand  by  which 
he  did  it  in  a  concealed  position  all  the  time,  on 
the  farther  side  of  him.  Then  the  moment  the 
anchor  was  free,  he  was  to  drop  the  thread  from 
his  hand  without  attempting  to  pull  it  to  the 
shore,  but  to  let  it  float  away  instead,  unseen, 
in  the  water. 

The  plan  succeeded  admirably.  The  whole 
party  of  girls  and  boys  gathered  around  the  ship 
in  a  semi-circle,  so  arranged  that  all  could  see. 
The  after-block  was  knocked  away,  and  the 
vessel  glided  beautifully  down  its  ways  into  the 


Planning. 


83 


The  name. 


Three  cheers. 


Picture  of  the  lanch. 


water.  The  instant  that  Parker  saw  that  the 
ship  was  safe  in  the  water,  he  called  out, 

"  Her  name  is  the  Caroline.  Three  cheers 
for  the  Caroline." 

The  three  cheers  were  given  in  the  most  en- 
thusiastic manner, — the  boys  shouting,  and  wa- 
ving their  caps  in  the  air,  and  the  girls  clapping 
their  hands.  The  boat  glided  beautifully- 
through  the  water,  going,  however,  more  and 
more  slowly,  as  the  impulse  which  it  had  re- 
ceived in  the  lanch  was  gradually  expended. 


THE    LANCHING. 


84  Mary  Bell. 

The  ship  comes  to  anchor  in  the  roadstead. 

At  length  Parker  gave  the  order  to  let  go  the 
anchor,  when  forthwith  the  whole  party  heard 
a  little  plunge  and  saw  the  anchor  fall.  The 
vessel  was  soon  brought  to  a  stand,  and  then 
swinging  around  gracefully  with  the  current,  it 
floated  down  a  little  way  until  it  came  to  a 
stand  again  in  the  middle  of  the  water,  at  an 
excellent  roadstead,  where  it  was  held  by  its  an- 
chor quite  securely. 

The  lanching  being  thus  successfully  accom- 
plished, the  children  began  to  move  in  little  de- 
tached parties  toward  the  grove  where  the  col- 
lation had  been  spread.  Caroline  hurried  them 
along,  saying, 

"  Come,  girls,  come.  Come  to  the  collation. 
And  after  the  collation  I  am  going  to  tell  you 
about  a  plan  that  I  have  been  forming  for  ma- 
king a  good  road  up  to  the  Peak." 


Carlo  Lost.  85 

Mrs.  Bell's  dog  Carlo.  Joseph's  management. 


Chapter   V. 
Carlo    Lost. 

Mrs.  Bell's  dog  Carlo  got  lost  about  this 
time,  and  Beechnut  and  Mary  Bell  had  quite  a 
series  of  adventures  in  attempting  to  find  him 
again.  The  occurrences  connected  with  this 
affair  have  to  be  related  here,  at  the  time  when 
they  took  place ;  though  in  consequence  of  this, 
it  becomes  necessary  to  postpone,  for  a  chapter 
or  two,  the  account  of  the  execution  of  the  plan, 
which  Mary  Bell  and  Caroline  formed  for  mak- 
ing a  pathway  to  the  Peak. 

The  way  in  which  Carlo  got  lost,  was  this. 
Joseph,  the  young  man  who  lived  at  Mrs.  Bell's, 
and  with  whom,  perhaps,  Carlo  had  more  to  do 
than  with  any  other  person,  was  not  particu- 
larly fond  of  dogs,  and  took  no  special  notice 
of  Carlo,  and  accordingly  gained  no  great  as- 
cendancy over  him.  When  Joseph  went  away 
any  where,  Carlo  might  go  with  him  or  not,  just 
,  as  he  pleased.  Joseph  himself  had  no  wish 
about  it,  one  way  or  the  other.  He  took  no 
notice  of  Carlo  if  he  went,  and  he  made  no  ob- 


86  Mary  Bell. 


Carlo's  independence.  Joseph's  journey  to  Haverhill. 

jection  if  the  dog  chose  to  stay  at  home.  In  a 
word,  Joseph  was  as  independent  as  Carlo. 

This  may  have  been  owing  in  part  to  the 
fact,  that  it  would  have  done  no  good  for  Jo- 
seph to  have  expressed  any  wishes  of  his  own 
at  any  time,  in  respect  to  Carlo's  accompanying 
him,  for  Carlo  would  have  paid  no  attention  to 
them  whatever,  if  he  had  expressed  them. 
Whenever  Joseph  went  away  from  the  house, 
to  go  of  an  errand  into  the  village,  or  to  his 
work  in  the  field,  if  Carlo  took  a  fancy  to  going 
with  him,  he  would  go,  no  matter  how  authori- 
tatively Joseph  ordered  him  to  remain  at  home. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  he  chose  to  remain  at 
home,  no  callings,  or  coaxings,  or  persuasions 
whatever,  could  induce  him  to  go. 

One  time  Joseph  was  going  in  the  wagon  on 
a  journey  to  a  large  town  named  Haverhill, 
which  was  situated  so  far  from  Franconia,  that 
it  was  not  convenient  to  go  and  return  the  same 
day.  Joseph,  accordingly,  formed  his  plan  for 
spending  the  night  at  Haverhill,  and  setting  out 
on  his  return  to  Franconia  on  the  day  follow- 
ing. -  When  the  time  arrived  for  his  journey, 
he  rose  and  made  his  preparations  for  going 
quite  early  in  the  morning,  in  order  to  set  out 
immediately  after  breakfast.     Carlo  said  noth- 


Carlo    Lost.  87 

Carlo  determines  to  go  too.  Joseph  orders  him  home. 

ing,  but  concluded  quietly,  in  his  own  mind, 
that  he  would  go  too.  It  was  plain  to  him  that 
some  expedition  was  on  foot ;  and  although  he 
had  no  idea  of  the  nature  or  object  of  it,  except 
that  it  was  evident  that  the  horse  and  wagon 
were  going,  he  determined  to  join  it,  whatever 
its  destination  might  be.  Accordingly,  on  the 
morning  of  the  journey,  when  Joseph  drove  the 
horse  up  to  the  fastening-post  behind  the  house, 
and  tied  him  there,  while  he  went  in  to  break- 
fast, Carlo  went  to  the  place,  walked  very  de- 
liberately under  the  wagon,  and  lay  down  there. 
Joseph  took  no  notice  of  this  movement.  In 
fact,  he  was  thinking  of  something  else  all  the 
time,  and  did  not  observe  Carlo  at  all. 

After  breakfast,  Joseph,  having  received  his 
last  directions  from  Mrs.  Bell,  and  having  bid 
her  and  Mary  Bell  good-bye,  came  out,  unfas- 
tened the  horse,  mounted  into  the  wagon,  and 
drove  away.  He  had  not  gone  many  steps, 
before  he  heard  Mary  Bell's  voice  behind,  call- 
ing out, 

"  Carlo !  Carlo  !     Come  back,  Carlo !" 
Joseph  looked  round  and  saw  Carlo  trotting 
along  just  behind  the  wagon.    He  was  evidently 
determined  to  pay  no  attention  to  Mary  Bell's 
calls. 


88 


M  A  R  Y     B  K  L  L 


Carlo  is  determined  not  to  go  home. 


"  Carlo !"  said  Joseph,  speaking  in  a  very 
stern  and  authoritative  voice,  "  Gro  home  !" 

Carlo  paid  no  heed  to  this  command,  hut 
continued  on  his  way,  following  the  wagon  just 
as  before. 

Joseph,  still  looking  back  toward  Carlo,  rein- 
ed in  his  horse  and  stopped.  Carlo  stopped  too. 
Joseph  looked  at  Carlo,  and  Carlo  looked  very 
steadily  and  firmly  at  Joseph. 


Josep^  reached  back  as  far  as  he  could,  and 


Carlo    Lost.  89 


Various  measures  resorted  to  by  Joseph. 

struck  at  Carlo  with  his  whip.  Carlo  did  not 
move.  He  did  not  even  wink.  He  knew  that 
the  whip  lash  was  not  long  enough  to  reach  him. 

Joseph  then  turned  his  horse  out  to  one  side 
of  the  road,  in  order  that  he  might  get  out  and 
drive  Carlo  home.  While  he  was  doing  this, 
Carlo,  keeping  still  at  the  same  distance  from 
the  wagon  as  before,  walked  leisurely  out  to 
the  side  of  the  road,  and  sat  down.  Joseph  de- 
scended from  his  w7agon  and  advanced  toward 
Carlo,  brandishing  his  whip  and  saying,  "Go 
home !"  Carlo  retreated  slowly,  so  as  just  to 
keep  beyond  the  reach  of  the  whip,  but  with  his 
face  turned  toward  Joseph  all  the  time. 

Joseph  then  stooped  down  to  pick  up  some 
stones,  and  Carlo,  wTho  had  expected  this  move- 
ment, and  was  consequently  all  prepared  for  it, 
sprang  away  immediately,  and  retreated  as  far 
as  he  thought  was  necessary  to  enable  him  to 
dodge  the  missiles.  Joseph  threw  two  or  three 
stones.  Carlo  avoided  them  by  bounding  when 
they  came,  first  to  one  side  of  the  road,  and 
then  to  the  other,  but  he  evinced  no  disposition 
to  go  home. 

Joseph  did  not  know  what  to  do  next.  Mary 
Bell  stood  all  this  time  at  the  great  stone  step 
before  the  door,  watching  the  contest. 


90  Mary    Bell. 

Joseph  gives  up  the  contest,  and  Carlo  goes. 

"  Mary  Bell,"  said  Joseph,  "  can't  you  come 
and  get  him  home  ?" 

" I  can  come"  said  Mary  Bell,  " but  how  am 
I  to  get  him  home  ?" 

This  question,  it  was  obvious,  admitted  of  no 
satisfactory  reply ;  and  so  Joseph,  after  stand- 
ing perplexed  and  uncertain  for  a  moment, 
turned  toward  his  wagon  again,  saying  to  him- 
self in  a  fretful  tone  : 

"  Let  him  go  then  if  he  will.  He'll  get  paid 
for  his  obstinacy  before  he  has  trotted  all  the 
way  to  Haverhill,  I  can  assure  him." 

Joseph  mounted  into  his  wagon  and  drove 
on,  Carlo  following  him  as  before.  Joseph  was 
still,  however,  quite  unwilling  to  have  Carlo 
thus  conquer  in  the  contest,  and  after  riding  a 
short  distance  farther  he  thought  of  one  other 
plan  for  getting  Carlo  home,  which  was  to  per- 
suade the  dog  to  get  up  into  the  wagon  under 
pretense  of  letting  him  ride,  and  then,  when  he 
had  thus  secured  him,  Joseph  thought  that  he 
could  easily  turn  round  and  take  him  home. 
He  accordingly  stopped,  and  changing  his  tone 
and  manner  altogether,  he  began  with  great  ap- 
pearance of  friendship  and  good-will  to  urge 
Carlo  to  come  and  jump  into  the  wagon.  But 
Carlo,   who   suspected    treachery,   would    not 


Carlo   Lost.  91 

Carlo  is  left  behind  at  Haverhill.  The  grain-room. 

come.  He  kept  in  fact  as  far  behind  the  wagon 
as  he  had  done  before — eyeing  Joseph  sus- 
piciously, and  paying  no  heed  to  his  calls.  So 
Joseph  gave  up  the  contest,  and  Carlo  went  to 
Haverhill. 

Joseph  finished  his  business  at  Haverhill  on 
the  evening  of  his  arrival,  and  on  the  following 
morning  set  out  on  his  return  home.  He  did 
not  once  think  of  Carlo  until  he  had  proceeded 
two  or  three  miles  on  his  journey.  Then  sud- 
denly remembering  him  he  looked  around,  but 
Carlo  was  not  to  be  seen.  He  stopped  the 
horse  and  waited  a  few  minutes,  supposing  that 
the  dog  had  fallen  a  little  behind,  and  that  he 
should  soon  see  him  coming  along  the  road. 
But  no  Carlo  appeared.  Joseph  then  began  to 
consider  whether  it  would  be  best  to  go  back 
and  find  him  ;  and  after  doubting  and  hesitating 
on  this  point  for  a  short  time,  he  finally  con- 
cluded to  go  on.  It  must  be,  he  thought,  that 
Carlo  would  come  along  of  his  own  accord. 

But  Carlo  could  not  come  along,  for  having 
gone  into  what  they  called  the  grain- room,  in 
the  stable,  at  the  tavern  where  Joseph  had 
spent  the  night,  he  had  got  accidently  fastened 
in,  and  was  accordingly  shut  up  there,  a  pris- 
oner.    He  had  slept  during  the  night  under  the 


92  Mary  Bell. 

Manner  in  which  Carlo  became  imprisoned. 

wagon,  considering  it  his  duty  to  watch  it,  but 
in  the  morning  just  about  the  time  that  Joseph 
was  finishing  his  breakfast,  having  had  no 
breakfast  of  his  own,  he  had  gone  hunting  about 
the  back-door  for  a  bone,  and  having  at  length 
found  one  he  carried  it  at  first  to  his  place 
under  the  wagon,  intending  to  gnaw  it  there ; 
but  another  smaller  dog  came  and  attempted  to 
take  it  away  from  him,  and  Carlo,  rather  than 
quarrel,  ran  off*  with  his  bone,  not  observing 
particularly  where  he  went,  but  only  desirous 
of  finding  some  retreat  where  he  could  make 
the  best  of  his  breakfast,  such  as  it  was,  in 
peace.  Chance  led  him  into  the  grain-room, 
the  door  of  which  happened  to  be  open.  Chance 
also  led  the  ostler  to  shut  the  door  soon  after 
Carlo  entered,  he  not  knowing  that  Carlo  was 
there.  When  Carlo  had  disposed  of  the  bone 
he  tried  to  get  out  of  the  grain-room,  but  could 
not.  The  door  was  fastened,  and  though  there 
was  a  window,  it  was  up  very  high  in  the  wall, 
and  entirely  inaccessible.  Carlo  scratched  at 
the  door  for  a  time,  and  made  piteous  entreaties 
for  somebody  outside  to  let  him  out ;  but  no- 
body heard  him.  He  concluded  then  that  he 
must  wait  patiently  until  some  one  should  open 
the  door.     So  he  lav  down  at  a  little  distance 


Carlo    Lost.  93 


Carlo's  attempts  to  find  Joseph.  His  unconcern. 

from  the  door,  extended  his  paws  before  him, 
reposed  his  chin  upon  his  paws,  and  in  that  po- 
sition allowed  himself  to  sink  into  a  sort  of 
semi-sleep.  It  was  only  a  semi-sleep,  for  he 
opened  one  eye  from  time  to  time  to  keep  watch 
of  the  door. 

It  was  nearly  noon  before  he  was  liberated, 
and  Joseph  was  then  nearly  half  way  home. 
Carlo  ran  immediately  to  the  place  where  he 
had  left  the  wagon,  but  it  had  disappeared.  He 
went  to  the  stable  and  looked  in  the  stall  where 
Joseph's  horse  had  been  placed,  but  the  horse 
was  gone.  He  smelled  all  about  the  yard  and 
about  the  doors  of  the  tavern,  to  find  the  traces 
of  Joseph's  steps,  but  there  were  no  traces  of 
them  to  be  found.  He  tried  to  remember  the 
road  by  which  he  came  into  the  village,  but  he 
could  not.  It  was  dark  in  fact  when  he  came 
in  the  evening  before,  and  besides  that,  he  wTas 
asleep  in  the  wagon  the  last  ten  miles  of  the 
way ;  for  he  made  no  objection  to  getting  into 
the  wagon  to  ride  when  Joseph  had  got  so  far 
away  from  home  as  to  preclude  the  possibility  of 
returning.  Thus  he  had  no  means  of  knowing 
what  wray  he  should  take  in  order  to  follow 
Joseph  and  find  him.  He  perceived  at  once 
that  it  was  a  hopeless  case,  and  as  it  was  an  es- 


94  M  ary  Bell. 


Mary  Bell  and  her  mother.  Plans  for  recovering  Carlo. 

sential  characteristic  of  his  nature  to  take  every 
thing  quietly  and  philosophically,  he  dismissed 
the  subject  at  once  from  his  mind,  and  went  to 
amusing  himself  by  playing  tumble-over-and- 
over,  with  another  dog  which  just  then  came, 
in  attendance  upon  a  farmer's  wagon,  into  the 
tavern  yard. 

Thus  Carlo  was  lost.  Mary  Bell  and  her 
mother  were  both  extremely  sorry,  when  Jo- 
seph came  back,  to  find  that  he  had  not  brought 
Carlo,  and  that  he  did  not  even  know  what  had 
become  of  him.  Mrs.  Bell  at  first  thought  of 
sending  Joseph  back  expressly  to  get  him ;  but 
this  would  have  been  inconvenient,  and  some- 
what expensive.  It  was  uncertain  too  whether 
this  plan  would  succeed,  if  adopted,  since  no 
one  knew  whether  Carlo  remained  at  the  tavern 
or  had  strayed  away  from  Joseph  somewhere 
on  the  road.  Finally,  Mrs.  Bell  concluded  to 
wait  until  she  should  hear  of  some  one  going  to 
Haverhill,  and  so  send  by  him,  as  a  messenger, 
to  inquire  for  the  dog,  and  to  bring  him  home  if 
he  could  be  found. 

Such  an  opportunity  did  not  occur  for  two 
months.  A  little  after  the  expiration  of  that 
time,  however,  a  wagoner  whom  Joseph  knew, 
was  going  to  Haverhill,  and  to  him  the  commis- 


Carlo    Lost.  95 

The  wagoner  finds  Carlo  at  Haverhill.  He  claims  him. 

sion  was  intrusted.  Joseph  described  the  dog 
to  the  wagoner,  gave  him  the  name  of  the  tav- 
ern where  he  had  put  up  when  Carlo  went  with 
him,  and  asked  the  wagoner  to  inquire  for  Carlo 
both  at  this  tavern  and  also  at  other  places  on 
the  way,  and  to  bring  him  home  if  he  could 
find  him. 

The  wagoner  very  readily  undertook  the 
commission.  He  inquired  along  the  road,  as  he 
went  to  Haverhill,  if  any  one  had  seen  such  a 
dog,  but  he  could  not  hear  any  tidings  of  him. 
As  soon,  however,  as  he  arrived  at  the  tavern, 
he  found  Carlo  very  comfortably  established 
there,  and  quite  as  well  contented,  apparently, 
at  his  new  home,  as  he  had  been  at  the  old  one. 

The  wagoner  immediately  claimed  the  dog 
as  belonging  to  Mrs.  Bell,  supposing,. of  course, 
that  he  would  be  at  once  given  up,  in  order 
.that  he  might  be  restored  to  the  proper  owner. 
But  instead  of  this,  an  unexpected  difficulty 
arose.  The  tavern-keeper  said  that  he  must  be 
paid  for  the  trouble  and  expense  which  he  had 
incurred  in  taking  care  of  the  dog,  and  feeding 
him  so  long.  He  had  perceived,  he  said,  that 
he  was  a  valuable  dog,  and  had  presumed  that 
the  owner  would  soon  come  after  him  ;  and  so 
he  had  taken  great  care  of  him ;  and  now  he 


96  Mary    Bell. 

A  difficulty.  The  wagoner's  report  to  Mrs.  Bell. 

must  be  paid  for  his  trouble  before  he  could  let 
the  dog  go.     He  asked  half  a  dollar. 

Half  a  dollar  was  certainly  not  a  great  sum 
for  such  a  service ;  but  the  wagoner  had  not 
been  authorized  to  pay  any  thing  whatever.  In 
fact,  it  had  not  occurred  to  Mrs.  Bell  that  any 
thing  would  be  demanded,  so  that  the  emergen- 
cy was  wholly  unprovided  for.  The  wagoner 
endeavored  to  persuade  the  tavern-keeper  to 
give  up  the  dog  without  receiving  the  money ; 
but  the  tavern-keeper  would  not  do  so,  and  the 
wagoner  was,  consequently,  compelled  to  re- 
turn without  him. 

When  he  came  to  make  his  report  to  Mrs. 
Bell,  Mrs.  Bell  told  him  that  he  did  perfectly 
right  not  to  pay  the  money,  since  he  had  not 
received  any  directions  to  do  so.  She  said, 
however,  that  if  she  had  known  that  the  tavern- 
keeper  would  have  made  any  such  demand,  she 
should  certainly  have  sent  the  money  to  meet 
it.  It  was  right  and  propeT,  she  added,  that  the 
tavern-keeper  should  receive  something  in  com- 
pensation for  his  trouble  and  expense,  and  she 
admitted  that  half  a  dollar  was  a  very  reason- 
able demand.  It  seemed  to  her,  however,  that 
he  might  have  had  sufficient  generosity  to  have 
sent  the  dog  home,  trusting  to  the  honesty  and 


Carlo  Lost.  97 


Second  expedition  of  the  wagoner.  The  collar  and  chain. 

fairness  of  the  owner  for  the  recovery  of  his 
money,  rather  than  to  insist  on  keeping  the  dog 
as  a  sort  of  captive  held  for  ransom.  She  told 
the  wagoner,  however,  that  he  himself  acted  ex- 
actly right,  and  she  requested  him  to  call  upon 
her  the  next  time  that  he  went  to  Haverhill, 
and  she  would  give  him  the  money,  and  get 
him  to  redeem  Carlo,  and  bring  him  home. 

It  was  more  than  three  months  after  this  be- 
fore the  wagoner  went  again.  Mrs.  Bell  thought 
that  by  this  time  Carlo  would  have  forgotten  all 
about  his  former  friends.  Still  she  was  very 
anxious  to  recover  him.  She  gave  the  wag- 
oner a  dollar,  thinking  it  probable  that  the  tav- 
ern-keeper would  expect  more  than  he  had 
asked  at  first,  having  now  kept  the  dog  for  a 
double  length  of  time.  Mary  Bell  also  bought 
a  collar  in  the  village,  and  a  long  chain,  so 
that  the  wagoner  could  chain  the  dog  in  his 
wagon,  and  thus  prevent  his  jumping  out  and 
running  away  on  the  road.  She  also  put  into 
the  wagon  a  large  piece  of  meat,  wrapped  up 
in  a  newspaper.  This  was  for  Carlo's  dinner, 
coming  home.  Having  taken  all  these  precau- 
tions, Mrs.  Bell  and  Mary  confidently  expected 
to  see  Carlo  as  soon  as  the  wagoner  should  re- 
turn. Q 


98  Mary  Bell. 


Mary  Bell  watches  for  the  wagoner.  Hia  return. 

He  returned  in  three  days.  Mary  Bell 
watched  for  him  two  hours,  toward  the  latter 
part  of  the  third  day,  seated  with  her  sewing, 
in  a  small  rocking-chair,  on  the  great  flat  stone 
step  before  the  door.  At  length  she  saw  the 
white  top  of  the  wagon  coming  along  the  road. 
She  laid  down  her  work  and  ran  down  the  road 
to  meet  the  wagon.  She  saw  nothing  of  Carlo. 
She  supposed,  however,  that  he  was  in  the 
wagon,  chained  down  in  some  concealed  place 
there.  She  began  at  length  to  fear  that  this 
might  not  be  the  case,  and  her  fears  were  con- 
firmed by  seeing  the  wagoner,  before  she  got 
near  enough  to  him  to  speak,  begin  to  shake  his 
head.  Mary  Bell  knew  then,  that  for  some  rea- 
son or  other,  he  had  not  brought  Carlo. 

When  the  wagon,  which  was  a  great  white- 
topped  wagon,  drawn  by  four  horses,  approached, 
Mary  Bell  stood  out  at  one  side  of  the  road.  The 
wagoner  reined  in  his  horses  when  he  got  near 
to  Mary  Bell,  and- stopped. 

"What's  the  matter?"  said  Mary  Bell. 
«  Where's  Carlo  ?" 

"  The  man  says,"  replied  the  wagoner,  "  that 
he  waited  some  time,  and  finding  that  your 
mother  did  not  send  for  the  dog,  and  not  want- 
ing to  keep  him  any  longer  himself,  he  let  an- 


Carlo    Lost.  09 


The  wagoner's  report.  Number  Five. 

other  man  have  him  that  was  willing  to  pay  the 
fifty  cents." 

"  Who  was  the  man  ?"  asked  Mary  Bell. 

"  The  tavern-keeper  did  not  know  what  his 
name  was/'  said  the  wagoner. 

"  Did  he  know  where  he  lived  ?"  asked  Mary 
Bell. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  wagoner,  "  he  said  he  lived 
in  Number  Five." 

"  Number  Five  ?"  repeated  Mary  Bell. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  wagoner.  "  That  is  one  of 
the  back  towns  among  the  mountains,  off  to  the 
northward  and  westward.  And  here's  the  dol- 
lar. You  can  give  the  money  to  your  mother, 
and  tell  her  about  it.  It  is  of  no  use  to  try  to 
find  the  dog  any  more,  as  we  can't  find  out  the 
man's  name  that  bought  him." 

So  saying,  the  wagoner  started  his  weary 
team  again,  and  drove  on,  leaving  Mary  Bell 
by  the  side  of  the  road,  holding  the  dollar  in  her 
hand,  and  saying  with  a  deep  sigh,  as  the  wag- 
oner drove  away, 

"Oh,  dear  me!  I'm  very  sorry.  I  liked 
Carlo  very  much, — though  he  wouldn't  ever 
mind  me." 

Mary  Bell  went  into  the  house,  and  commu- 
nicated to  her  mother  the  report  which   the 


100  Mary   Bell. 


Mary  Bell's  disappointment.  Beechnut's  proposal. 

wagoner  had  made.  Mrs.  Bell  was  sorry  to 
receive  such  an  account,  but  she  was  now  dis- 
posed to  consider  the  dog  as  irretrievably  lost, 
and  to  dismiss  the  subject  wholly  from  her  mind. 

The  subject  would  probably  have  thus  been 
finally  and  forever  dropped,  had  it  not  been  that 
Beechnut  revived  it  once  more,  a  week  or  two 
after  this  time,  one  day  when  he  happened  to 
be  at  Mrs.  Bell's. 

Beechnut  had  always  taken  a  special  interest 
in  Carlo,  though  he  came  so  seldom  to  Mrs. 
Bell's  that  Carlo  did  not  appear  to  know  him 
very  well.  Beechnut  was  very  sorry  to  hear 
that  Carlo  was  lost,  and  while  Mrs.  Bell  was 
making  efforts  to  recover  him,  he  had  made 
inquiries  from  time  to  time,  as  he  had  oppor- 
tunity,  in  regard  to  what  was  done,  and  to  the 
prospect  of  success.  When,  at  last,  a  few 
weeks  after  the  wagoner  made  his  final  report, 
Mary  Bell  told  Beechnut  that  the  dog  was  lost 
forever,  Beechnut  said  that  he  thought  he  could 
find  him. 

"Why  what  could  you  do?"  asked  Mrs. 
Bell. 

"  Oh,  I  could  form  some  plan  or  other,"  said 
Beechnut.  "  What  did  the  tavern-keeper  say 
about  the  man  who  took  him  ?" 


Carlo  Lost.  101 

Mode  of  naming  townships.  Beechnut  plans  an  3xpe<?'iaou. 

"  He  said,"  replied  Mary  Bell,  "  that  he  did 
not  know  what  his  name  was,  but  that  he  lived 
in  Number  Five.  What  did  he  mean  by 
that?" 

"Why  he  meant  township  Number  Five/' 
said  Beechnut.  They  call  the  townships  back 
among  the  mountains  by  a  number,  until  they 
get  inhabitants  enough  to  have  a  name.  I  think 
I  could  go  to  Number  Five  and  find  Carlo  there 
somewhere." 

"  Why  it  may  be  a  very  large  township," 
said  Mrs.  Bell,  "  five  or  six  miles  each  way." 

"  Yes,"  said  Beechnut,  "  but  I  could  find 
Carlo  if  he  is  there.  Only  I  should  want  some- 
body to  go  with  me  that  he  knows,  or  else  per- 
haps I  could  not  get  him  to  come  away,  if  I 
should  find  him." 

"Well,"  said  Mrs.  Bell,  "I  wish  you  would 
take  the  wagon  some  day,  and  Joseph,  and  go 
and  try.     Carlo  knows  Joseph." 

"  I  should  rather  have  Mary  go,"  said  Beech- 
nut. "  He  likes  Mary  better  than  he  does  Jo- 
seph." 

Here  there  was  a  little  pause.  Mary  Bell 
did  not  know  exactly  what  to  say  about  go- 
ing. 

"Could    not    you    go?"    asked    Beechnut. 


102  Mary  Bell. 


Arrangements.  Carlo's  value.  Mrs.  Bell's  decision. 

"  Phonny  and  Malleville  might  go  too,  to  keep 
you  company." 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Mary  Bell.  "  Could  I 
mother  ?" 

"Would  there  be  room  for  you  all  in  the 
wagon  ?"  asked  Mrs.  Bell. 

"  Yes,"  said  Beechnut ;  "  I  could  put  the 
principal  seat  back  a  little,  for  Mary  Bell  and 
the  children  to  sit  upon.  Mary  Bell  could  sit 
in  the  middle,  and  Phonny  and  Malleville  on 
each  side.  Then  I  could  make  a  driver's  seat 
for  myself  before. 

"  Well,"  said  Mrs.  Bell,  "  I  should  like  on 
the  whole  to  have  you  go." 

"  And  how  much,"  inquired  Beechnut,  "  may 
I  give  for  Carlo,  in  case  I  have  to  buy  him 
back  ?" 

"  Why, — you  may  give," — said  Mrs.  Bell, 
pausing  to  weigh  Carlo's  value  in  her  mind, — 
"  I  would  give  three  dollars,  rather  than  not  get 
him  back." 

"Five,  mother,"  said  Mary  Bell,  "do  say 
five." 

"  Well,"  said  Mrs.  Bell.  "  I  will  say  five.  Or 
rather  you  may  take  the  wagon,  and  I  will  give 
you  five  dollars  when  you  set  out.  You  must 
pay  your  expenses  out  of  the  money,  and  you 


Carlo    Lost.  103 

Five  dollars  put  at  Beechnut's  disposal. 

musi  not  be  gone  more  than  one  day :  and  all 
the  money,  except  what  you  expend  yourselves, 
you  may  use  to  buy  back  the  dog." 

The  plan  thus  formed  was  duly  executed. 
An  account  of  what  occurred  in  the  course  of 
the  expedition,  and  the  result  of  Beechnut's  at- 
tempt to  recover  the  dog  will  be  related  in  the 
next  chapter. 


104  Mary  Bell. 


Mrs.  Henry's  oonsent  obtained.  The  day  fixed. 


Chapter  VI. 
Carlo    Found. 

Beechnut  easily  obtained  Mrs.  Henry's  per- 
mission to  go  in  search  of  Carlo,  and  to  take 
Phonny  and  Malleville  with  him.  It  was  also 
decided  that  instead  of  Mrs.  Bell's  wagon,  he 
should  take  his  own,  or  rather  Mrs.  Henry's,  as 
that  was  already  fitted  up  with  the  necessary 
means  for  changing  the  position  of  the  princi- 
pal seat  and  putting  in  a  driver's  seat  before, 
according  to  the  plan  which  Beechnut  had  sug- 
gested to  Mrs.  Bell.  Besides  it  was  better  to 
take  Mrs  Henry's  wagon,  because  it  w7as  more 
convenient  to  set  off  from  her  house  in  the 
morning,  in  commencing  the  journey;  as 
Beechnut  could  take  in  Phonny  and  Malleville 
there,  and  then  call  for  Mary  Bell  by  the 
way. 

The  day  fixed  upon  for  the  expedition  was 
the  first  of  September.  Beechnut  spent  the 
afternoon  of  the  day  before  in  making  the  prep- 
arations. He  adjusted  the  seats  in  the  wagon, 
according  to  the  plan  which  he  had  proposed. 


Carlo   Found.  105 

Plans  and  arrangements  for  the  expedition. 

He  filled  a  large  basket  with  provisions  of  vari- 
ous kinds,  such  as  were  suitable  for  an  encamp- 
ment, for  he  had  determined  not  to  stop  at  a 
tavern  either  in  going  or  returning,  but  to  en- 
camp instead,  by  the  roadside,  in  order  to  save 
as  much  of  the  money  as  possible,  for  the  pur- 
chase of  Carlo.  He  was  fully  resolved,  it  is 
true,  not  to  pay  any  more  than  he  was  abso- 
lutely compelled  to  pay,  since  he  considered  the 
dog  as  still  rightfully  belonging  to  Mrs.  Bell. 
He  wished,  however,  to  have  the  means  in  his 
hands  to  make  whatever  payment  should  be 
demanded,  in  case  he  could  not  obtain  the  dog 
by  any  other  means.  Besides  making  provision 
for  himself  and  his  fellow-passengers,  Beechnut 
put.  into  the  back  part  of  the  wagon  a  small  bag 
of  oats  for  the  horse.  He  intended  to  tie  the 
horse  to  a  tree,  at  the  place  of  his  encampment, 
and  let  him  eat  his  oats  there,  while  he  himself 
and  the  rest  of  the  party  were  eating  their  din- 
ner. 

Beechnut  arose  very  early  on  the  morning  of 
the  appointed  day,  as  soon  in  fact  as  it  was  light, 
and  gave  the  horse  his  morning's  provender. 
He  then  opened  the  great  barn-doors  and  backed 
the  wagon  out.  The  children  were  already  up, 
and  the  girl  in  the  kitchen  was  preparing  their 


106  Mary  Bell. 


Setting  out.  The  mountain  axe.  Phonny's  impatience. 

oreakfast.  When  the  breakfast  was  ready,  how- 
ever, it  was  found  that  Phonny  and  Malleville 
were  both  too  much  excited  with  the  thoughts 
of  their  expedition  to  have  much  appetite  for 
eating  it.  They  got  into  the  wagon  at  length 
just  as  the  sun  was  peeping  above  the  horizon. 
They  were  so  impatient  to  have  the  journey 
begin,  that  they  climbed  into  the  wagon  them- 
selves before  Beechnut  had  unfastened  the 
horse. 

"Come,  Beechnut!"  said  Phonny,  "we  are 
all  ready/' 

"  Yes,"  said  Beechnut,  "  and  I  am  all  ready 
excepting  the  axe ;  I  must  go  and  get  the 
mountain-axe." 

This  "  mountain-axe"  was  a  small  and  light 
axe,  which  Beechnut  kept  expressly  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  with  him  on  his  excursions. 
He  had  a  place  fitted  for  it  in  the  wagon. 
There  was  a  sort  of  cleat  fastened  to  the  side 
of  the  wagon,  with  a  space  just  large  enough  to 
receive  the  blade  of  the  axe  and  hold  it  firmly, 
while  the  handle  extended  along  the  side  of  the 
wagon.  By  being  thus  secured,  the  axe  was 
kept  from  either  injuring  other  things,  or  get- 
ting injured  itself  by  the  jolting,  on  the  road. 
Beechnut  had  forgotten  to  put  in  the  mountain- 


Carlo  Found. 

107 

Discussion  about  the  axe.                         Off. 

Mary  Bell. 

axe,  in  the  preparations  which  he  had  made 
the  day  before,  and  so  he  went  to  get  it  now. 

But  Phonny  was  impatient  to  go,  and  so  he 
called  out  to  Beechnut  as  he  was  walking  to- 
ward the  shop  where  the  tools  were  kept : 

"  Oh  never  mind  the  axe,  Beechnut.  We 
shall  not  want  it." 

But  Beechnut,  paying  no  attention  to  this 
call,  went  on. 

"  I  think  it  is  nonsense,"  said  Phonny  to  Mal- 
leville,  "  to  stop  for  an  axe." 

Malleville  thought  that  Beechnut  knew  best, 
but  she  did  not  like  to  contradict  Phonny,  so 
she  said  that  Beechnut  would  only  be  gone  a 
minute. 

He  was,  indeed,  gone  but  a  very  short  time. 
When  he  returned,  he  put  the  axe  in  its  place, 
unfastened  the  horse,  mounted  into  the  driver's 
seat,  and  turning  the  horse  toward  the  road  he 
fairly  commenced  the  journey. 

"  Now,"  said  Phonny,  "  we're  off." 

"  Yes,"  said  Malleville, — "  only  we  have  got 
to  stop  once  more,  for  Mary  Bell." 

They  found  Mary  Bell  all  ready  when  they 
arrived  at  her  mother's  house,  so  that  they  were 
detained  only  a  very  few  minutes  at  the  door. 
Mrs.   Bell   was   there   to  bid  them  good-bye. 


108  Mary   Bell. 

The  ten  half  dollars.  Uses  for  the  axe. 

She  gave  Beechnut  the  money.  It  was  all  in 
half-dollars.  There  were  of  course  ten  of 
them.  She  gave  him  the  money  in  this  form 
in  order  that  he  might  make  out  any  payment 
which  should  finally  be  agreed  upon  as  the  ran- 
som of  the  dog,  without  any  difficulty  or  em- 
barrassment in  respect  to  change.  Beechnut 
himself  had  suggested  this  plan  to  Mrs.  Bell 
several  days  before.  The  money  being  re- 
ceived, and  Mary  Bell  being  established  in  her 
seat,  the  whole  party  bade  Mrs.  Bell  good-bye, 
and  went  away  from  the  door. 

"  Now  we're  off,  really  and  truly,"  said  Phon- 
ny- 

"  Yes,"  said  Malleville,  "  and  we've  got  some 
provisions,  Mary  Bell.  We're  going  to  en- 
camp." 

"  Yes,"  said  Phonnjr.  "  We've  got  every 
thing  that  we  need,  and  one  thing  that  I  think 
we  don't  need,  and  that  is  an  axe." 

"  Oh,  we  may  need  the  axe,"  said  Beechnut, 
"  before  we  come  back." 

"  What  for  ?"  asked  Phonny. 

"  Oh,  I  could  think  of  half  a  dozen  purposes," 
said  Beechnut,  "that  we  may  have  occasion  to 
use  the  axe  for,  on  such  an  expedition." 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  Phonny,  "  not  half  a  dozen. 


Carlo    Found.  109 

Beechnut  argues  the  case  with  Phonny. 

You  might,  perhaps,  think  of  one  or  two ; — 
such,  for  example,  as  to  build  a  fire  at  our 
camp." 

"Yes,"  said  Beechnut,  "that  is  one.  And 
then  there  may  come  up  a  shower  of  rain  when 
we  are  in  the  middle  of  a  long  road  through  the 
woods,  so  that  there  would  be  no  place  to  go  to, 
and  we  should  have  to  cut  down  small  trees 
and  branches,  and  make  a  hut  for  shelter." 

" Well,"  that  is  two"  said  Phonny. 

"There  may  be  a  tree  blown  down  across 
the  road,"  added  Beechnut,  "  so  that  we  should 
have  to  cut  it  away  before  we  could  get  by." 

"  Yes,"  said  Phonny,  "  I  did  not  think  of  that. 
But  then  in  that  case  we  might  borrow  an  axe 
of  some  farmer  near  by." 

"  But   there  might   not  be   a   farmer,"  said 

Beechnut,    "  within   two   miles    of    the   place. 

.Trees  generally  blow  down  across  the  road  in 

wild  and  solitary  places,  and  not  near  farmers* 

houses." 

"  Well,"  said  Phonny,  "  that  makes  three." 

"  Then  there  may  be  some  bridge  broken 
down,"  said  Beechnut,  "and  I  might  want  to 
c  it  some  poles  to  mend  it  with." 

"  Four,"  said  Phonny.  "  Two  more.  You 
said  half  a  dozen." 


110  Mary  Bell. 


Cutting  canes.  Breaking  down.  Removing  obstructions. 

"  Well,"  said  Beechnut,  pausing  a  moment  to 
think ; — "  perhaps  we  shall  see  some  curious 
stick  growing  by  the  road-side,  that  you  will 
want  for  a  cane  ;  and  then  you  will  ask  me  to 
cut  it  for  you  with  the  axe." 

"  No,"  said  Phonny,  shaking  his  head.  "  No. 
I  shall  not  want  any  canes.  And,  besides,  if  I 
do,  I  will  cut  them  with  my  knife.  You  can't 
have  that  to  count.     There  are  only  four." 

"  Well — let  me  think,"  said  Beechnut — "  I'll 
tell  you ;  the  wagon  may  break  down,  and  I 
may  need  the  axe  to  mend  it, — for  instance,  to 
make  a  new  shaft  or  axletree,  or  a  wedge  to 
drive  in  somewhere." 

"  I  don't  believe  you  could  make  an  axletree," 
said  Phonny,  pausing  to  think  about  it  a  little. 
"  However,  I  am  willing,"  he  added  at  length, 
"  to  call  that  five." 

"  Now  there  is  only  one  more  wanted,  to 
make  six,"  said  Mary  Bell. 

"  Then,"  said  Beechnut,  "  there  may  be  some 
obstruction  or  other  in  the  road,  that  we  can- 
not possibly  remove,  and  so  we  may  have  to 
drive  round  it,  through  the  woods  a  little  way, 
and  I  may  have  to  clear  a  passage  by  cutting  up 
the  logs  and  bushes." 

"  No,"   said  Phonny,   "  you   have   had   that 


Carlo  Found.  Ill 

Beechnut  acknowledges  himself  vanquished. 

once.  That  is  the  same  thing  as  cutting  away 
the  tree  that  had  blown  across  the  road." 

"  Why,  that  would  be  cutting  off  the  trunk 
of  a  fallen  tree,"  said  Beechnut,  "  whereas  this 
would  be  principally  cutting  down  small  trees 
and  bushes  that  were  standing." 

"  It  is  all  clearing  the  road,"  said  Phonny. 
"  I  don't  think  that  that  ought  to  count  more 
than  one.     You  can't  think  of  any  sixth  case." 

"  Well,  I  have  thought  of  five,"  said  Beech- 
nut, "  at  any  rate ;  and  it  seems  to  me  that  all 
the  other  imaginable  and  possible  disasters  which 
might  happen,  ought  to  count  as  much  as  one, 
and  to  make  out  my  half  a  dozen,  even  if  I  can 
not  tell  beforehand  precisely  what  they  are." 

"  No,"  replied  Phonny,  "  I  can  not  count  any, 
unless  you  tell  me  precisely  what  they  are." 

"  Then  I  must  give  it  up,"  said  Beechnut, 
"  and  acknowledge  that  I  am  beaten." 

It  was  one  of  Beechnut's  favorite  modes  of 
amusing  himself  and  the  children  that  he  played 
with  or  talked  with,  to  get  into  contests  of  this 
kind  with  persons  younger  than  himself,  and 
then  allow  them  to  beat  him. 

In  this  particular  case,  although  Phonny  re- 
fused to  permit  Beechnut  to  reckon  the  possible 
occurrence  of  some  wholly  unforeseen  and  un- 


112  Mary  Bell. 


The  expedition  moves  on  towards  the  mountains. 

expected  accident,  among  the  six  occasions  for 
the  use  of  the  axe,  it  turned  out  in  the  end,  as 
will  hereafter  appear,  that  Beechnut  was  right 
in  anticipating  such  a  possibility.  A  case  ac- 
tually did  occur,  which  required  the  use  of  an 
axe,  and  which  was  entirely  different  from  either 
of  the  five  possible  emergencies  which  he  had 
enumerated. 

Talking  in  this  way  about  the  various  sub- 
jects connected  with  their  expedition,  and  about 
the  scenes  and  incidents  which  occurred  upon 
the  road,  as  they  traveled  along,  the  party  jour- 
neyed on  through  a  very  picturesque  and  pleas- 
ant country,  which,  however,  grew  more  and 
more  wild  and  solitary  as  they  proceeded. 
They  gradually  approached  the  mountainous 
country,  and  at  length  they  entered  a  broad 
and  fertile,  but  very  secluded  valley,  which  was 
bordered  by  mountains  and  forests  on  either 
hand.  There  was  a  large  stream  flowing 
through  the  midst  of  this  valley,  and  the  road 
followed  the  banks  of  the  stream,  now  on  this 
side,  and  now  on  that,  crossing  it  by  means  of 
rude  bridges  floored  over  with  logs,  upon  which 
the  wagon  jolted  frightfully  in  passing.  At 
length  Beechnut  judged  that  it  was  nearly 
noon,  and  he  began  to  look  out  for  a  place  oi 


Carlo  Found.  113 

The  encampment.  Beechnut's  orders. 

encampment.  He  easily  found  one.  It  was  at 
a  point  where  a  cool  stream  came  running  down 
from  the  mountains,  over  a  bed  of  moss-covered 
stones.  There  was  a  level  place  near  the  road, 
where  the  wagon  could  stand.  Beechnut  drove 
the  horse  out  of  the  road  to  this  level  place,  and 
then  descending  from  the  wagon,  he  helped 
Mary  Bell  and  the  children  to  get  out. 

"  Now,"  said  Beechnut,  "  we  have  got  to  stay 
here  an  hour  and  a  half,  so  you  will  have  plen- 
ty of  time.  There  is  the  basket  of  provisions. 
You  may  set  your  table  where  you  please,  and 
have  the  dinner  when  you  please.  I  have 
nothing  to  do  but  to  take  care  of  the  horse.  If 
you  wish  to  ramble  about,  either  alone  or  to- 
gether, you  can  go  up  or  down  the  brook,  or 
along  the  road  either  way ;  but  you  must  keep 
in  sight  of  one  or  the  other,  either  the  road  or 
the  brook,  so  as  to  be  sure  that  you  can  find 
your  way  back  again.  And  remember  that  we 
shall  have  to  stay  here  an  hour  and  a  half. 
You  will  be  tired  enough  of  staying,  long  be- 
fore the  time  has  expired,  but  that  cannot  be 
helped. 

"Why  must  we  stay  so  long?"  asked  Mary 
Bell.     "•  We  can  eat  our  dinner  in  half  an  hour." 

''For  the  sake  of  the  horse,"  said  Beechnut. 
H 


114  Mary  Bell. 


An  hour  and  a  half  in  the  woods.  Going  on. 

"  The  horse  must  have  an  hour  and  a  half  to 
rest,  and  to  eat  his  oats  leisurely.  Besides," 
continued  Beechnut  in  conclusion,  "  I  am  going 
to  lie  down  and  go  to  sleep,  and  I  advise  you  all 
to  do  the  same." 

"  Hoh !"  said  Phonny. 

The  hour  and  a  half  passed  away  very  pleas- 
antly at  the  encampment,  though  we  can  not 
give  a  particular  account  of  what  occurred. 
At  the  end  of  the  time,  Beechnut  and  Phonny 
harnessed  the  horse  again,  for  Beechnut  had 
taken  him  entirely  out  of  harness  when  they 
first  arrived,  in  order  that  he  might  rest  and  re- 
fresh himself  more  perfectly,  by  being  fully  at 
liberty.  The  party  then  all  got  into  the  wagon, 
and  set  out  upon  their  journey  again.  Beech- 
nut said  that  he  thought  that  they  should  get 
into  Number  Five  in  the  course  of  an  hour. 

After  riding  nearly  an  hour,  they  met  a  team- 
ster coming  along  the  road,  driving  a  yoke  of 
oxen.  The  oxen  were  drawing  a  huge  log,  one 
end  of  which  rested  upon  the  axletree  of  a  pair 
of  heavy  wheels,  and  the  other  dragged  upon 
the  ground. 

The  teamster  drove  out  to  one  side  of  the 
road  a  little  way,  when  he  saw  Beechnut's 
wagon  coming,  in  order  to  make  room  for  the 


Carlo  Found.  115 

Conversation  with  the  teamster.  His  surprise. 

wagon  to  go  by.  As  Beechnut  advanced  to- 
ward him,  the  teamster  stood  leaning  against 
the  neck  of  one  of  his  oxen,  looking  at  the 
party  in  the  wagon  with  a  countenance  expres- 
sive of  curiosity  and  surprise.  When  Beechnut 
arrived  opposite  to  the  team,  he  stopped  his 
horse,  and  asked  the  stranger  how  far  it  was  to 
Number  Five. 

"  To  Number  Five  ?"  repeated  the  teamster. 
"You  are  in  Number  Five  now.  You  have 
been  in  Number  Five  for  three  miles  back." 

While  saying  this,  the  teamster  was  very 
busily  engaged  in  scrutinizing  the  wagon  and 
the  party  which  it  contained,  with  very  earnest 
attention.  He  looked  first  at  the  children,  then 
at  the  horse,  and  then  at  the  wagon,  which  last 
he  surveyed  carefully  in  every  part,  above  and 
below,  and  behind  and  before.  He  wondered 
what  could  have  brought  such  a  party  in  such 
an  equipage  back  among  the  mountains. 

"  What  part  of  Number  Five  is  it  that  you 
want  to  go  to  ?"  resumed  the  teamster.. 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know,"  said  Beechnut  in  a  care- 
less manner.  "  We  are  only  riding  about  a  lit- 
tle. We  want  to  see  the  town.  Where  do  the 
inhabitants  live, — or  are  there  no  inhabitants." 

"  Oh,   yes,"   said    the   teamster,    "  there   are 


116  M  ary  Bell. 


Beechnut's  enquiries  about  dogs. 


plenty  of  farmers  scattered  about  among  the 
mountains." 

"  Do  you  happen  to  know  of  any  body  here- 
abouts," said  Beechnut,  "  that  has  got  a  good 
dog  that  he  would  like  to  sell.  I  want  to  buy  a 
good  dog." 

"  A  dog  ?"  repeated  the  teamster,  still  more 
surprised. 

"  Yes,"  said  Beechnut. 

"  What  kind  of  a  dog  do  you  want  ?"  asked 
the  teamster. 

"Oh,  I  want  a  good-natured  dog,"  replied 
Beechnut — "  pretty  good  size." 

"  For  a  watch  dog  ?"  asked  the  man. 

"  Why — not  exactly,"  said  Beechnut.  "  We 
want  him  to  stay  about  the  house  and  play  with 
the  children,  rather  than  to  do  much  watching." 

"  There's  a  man  over  here,  on  the  other  side 
of  a  pond,  that  you  will  come  to  pretty  soon, 
that's  got  a  first-rate  watch-dog.  But  I  think 
it  probable  he  would  be  too  savage  for  you. 
They  have  to  keep  him  chained  all  the  day- 
time." 

"  That  can't  be  Carlo,"  said  Mary  Bell,  in  a 
whisper  to  Malleville. 

Beechnut,  however,  not  knowing  how  far 
Carlo  might  have  acquired  a  savage  character, 


Carlo    Found.  117 

The  teamster  describes  a  savage  sort  of  dog. 

through  the  influence  of  hard  treatment  among 
his  new  keepers,  thought  that  he  would  make 
sure  of  the  fact,  by  asking  further  questions. 

"  What  color  is  the  dog  ?"  asked  Beechnut. 

"  He's  of  a  very  dark  color,"  said  the  team- 
ster. 

"  How  long  has  that  man  had  him  ?"  asked 
Beechnut. 

"  Oh,  he  has  had  him  a  great  many  years," 
replied  the  teamster.  "  /  have  known  him  five 
or  six  years." 

"  And  you  don't  know  of  any  body  else  about 
here  that  has  got  a  good  dog?"  said  Beech- 
nut. 

The  man  said  that  he  did  not;  and  then 
Beechnut,  thanking  him  for  his  information, 
bade  him  good-bye,  and  drove  on. 

A  short  time  after  this,  they  came  in  sight  of 
the  pond,  and  just  beyond  it  was  a  small  and 
plain  farm-house.  Just  before  the  wagon 
reached  this  house,  the  children  were  startled 
by  the  sudden  leaping  up  of  a  great  and  fero- 
cious-looking dog,  that  was  chained  to  a  tree 
by  the  side  of  the  house.  The  clanking  of  his 
heavy  chain,  as  he  sprang  forward  to  the  ut- 
most length  of  it,  and  the  frightful  sound  of  his 
hoarse  and  heavy  barking,  was  really  terrific. 


118 


Mary  B*ll. 


They  see  the  savage  dog. 


They  ride  on. 


"  Mercy !"  said  Mary  Bell.     "  What  a  dread- 
ful dog!" 


VEEY     SAVAGE. 


"  You  are  a  little  too  savage  for  us,  old  fel- 
low, I  think  myself,"  said  Beechnut,  waving  his 
whip  toward  the  dog.  "  Lie  down  and  go  to 
sleep  again." 

"  Yes,"  said  Phonny ;  "  do  you  think  that 
Mary  Bell  and  I  look  like  thieves  and  robbers  ?" 

So  they  went  on. 

Beechnut  stopped  several  times  as  he  trav- 
eled along,  to  talk  with  the  people  that  he  met 


Carlo  Found.  119 

They  hear  of  a  very  "  knowing  dog." 

by  the  way,  or  saw  at  work  in  their  fields,  and 
made  inquiries  of  them,  similar  to  those  which 
he  had  addressed  to  the  teamster.  The  people 
told  him  of  various  dogs  owned  in  the  township, 
but  the  descriptions  which  they  gave  of  them, 
did  not  correspond  with  the  appearance  and 
character  of  Carlo.  At  last,  however,  a  man 
whom  they  found  at  work  by  the  side  of  the 
road,  near  his  house,  making  a  frame  for  a 
shed,  said  that  there  was  a  man  who  lived 
about  two  miles  away,  over  on  another  road, 
who  had  a  very  knowing  dog, — the  most  know- 
ing dog,  he  thought,  in  town. 

"That's  Carlo,"  whispered  Mary  Bell  to 
Malleville,  "  I  verily  believe." 

"  Is  he  kind  ?"  asked  Beechnut. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  man.  "  I  believe  he  is  rather 
too  kind.  He  is  not  good  for  much  for  a 
watch-dog,  but  he's  very  knowing.  When 
Uncle  Jerry  is  out  a-haying,  I've  heard  say 
that  he  would  give  his  dog  a  tin- pail  and  send 
him  down  to  the  spring  to  get  a  pail  of  water." 

Mary  Bell  touched  Malleville  with  her  elbow, 
but  did  not  say  a  word. 

"The  dog,"  continued  the  farmer,  "would 
take  the  handle  of  the  pail  in  his  mouth,  and 
go  to  the  spring  and  dip  the  pail  up  full  of  cool 


120  Mary   Bell. 


Uncle  Jerry.  Anecdote  of  the  knowing  dog. 

water,  and  then  bring  it  back  to  Uncle  Jerry. 
That's  what  I've  heard  say,  but  I  never  saw 
him  do  it." 

"Is  the  man's  name  Uncle  Jerry?"  asked 
Phonny. 

"We  call  him  Uncle  Jerry,"  replied  the 
farmer ;  "  his  real  name  is  Golding." 

The  farmer  told  Beechnut,  moreover,  in  an- 
swer to  further  questions,  that  the  dog  was  of  a 
dark  color  and  of  rather  large  size,  and  that 
Mr.  Golding  had  brought  him  home  from  one 
of  his  journeys  two  or  three  months  before. 
Beechnut  concluded  that  this  must  be  Carlo, 
and  so,  after  inquiring  particularly  where  Mr. 
Golding  lived,  he  thanked  the  farmer  for  his 
information,  and  drove  on. 

Mr.  Golding's  house  was  a  rude  sort  of  cabin, 
situated  under  a  hill,  near  a  stream  of  water. 
Beechnut,  before  he  came  in  sight  of  the  house, 
charged  Phonny  very  distinctly  not  to  say  a 
word,  or  to  take  any  part  whatever  in  the  pro- 
ceedings, at  the  house,  nor  to  take  any  notice 
of  Carlo,  in  case  he  should  see  him.  Beech- 
nut did  not  give  any  charges  of  this  kind  to 
Mary  Bell  and  Malleville,  for  he  knew  that 
they  would  hear  and  obey  whatever  directions 
he  gave  to  Phonny, 


Carlo   Found.  121 

They  arrive  at  Mr.  Golding's  house.  Interview. 


At  length,  the  party  came  suddenly  into  sight 
of  Mr.  Golding's  house,  at  a  turn  of  the 
road. 

Beechnut  drove  directly  by.  Phonny  asked 
him  if  he  was  not  going  to  stop. 

"  You  must  not  speak,"  said  Beechnut,  "  or 
ask  any  questions." 

After  Beechnut  had  passed  the  house,  he 
went  on  until  he  came  to  a  broad  place  in  the 
road,  and  there  he  turned  his  wagon  round  and 
then  came  back.  He  stopped  before  the  house, 
and  got  out  of  the  wagon.  A  very  rough- 
looking  man,  with  black  shaggy  hair  and  beard, 
and  with  an  axe  in  his  hand,  came  out  from  a 
shed  at  the  side  of  the  house  to  see  who  it  was 
that  stopped,  and  what  they  wanted. 

"  Is  this  Mr.  Golding  ?"  asked  Beechnut. 

"  My  name  is  Golding,"  said  the  man. 
,     "  I  understand,"  said  Beechnut,  that  you  have 
got  a  pretty  knowing  dog,  that  you  would  be 
willing  to  sell,  and  I  should  like  to  see  him,  and 
perhaps  buy  him." 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Golding,  doubtfully,— •" I 
don't  know.  The  dog  is  a  first-rate  dog.  I 
don't  care  particularly  about  selling  him.  I 
could  not  take  less  than  five  dollars  for  him,  at 
any  rate.     He  is  a  first-rate  dog.     Here  Jack !" 


122  Mary  Bell. 


Jock.  He  proves  to  be  Carlo.  Beechnut  claims  him. 

he  added,  turning  round  toward  the  shed  and 
speaking  as  if  calling  to  the  dog.  "  Here  Jock ! 
Come  here !" 

"  Oh,"  said  Malleville,  in  a  whisper  to  Mary 
Bell.  "  His  name  is  Jock.  It's  another  dog. 
I  was  in  hopes  it  was  Carlo." 

"Hush!"  said  Mary  Bell. 

"I  call  him  Jock,"  said  Mr.  Golding,  "but  I 
don't  know  what  his  real  name  is.  I  have  not 
had  him  very  long." 

Just  then  Jock  appeared,  walking  very  delib- 
erately around  the  corner  of  the  house.  It 
was  really  Carlo.  The  sight  made  it  extremely 
difficult  for  Mary  Bell  and  Phonny  to  sit  still. 

"  Yes,"  said  Beechnut,  as  if  talking  to  him- 
self, but  yet  intending  that  Mr.  Golding  should 
hear.  "  That's  the  dog."  Then  turning  to 
Mr.  Golding,  he  said : 

"  The  fact  is,  Mr.  Golding,  that  we  lost  a  dog 
some  months  ago  at  Haverhill,  and  I  thought 
from  the  description  that  yours  must  be  the 
one.  I  did  not  come,  however,  to  take  him 
away  from  you,  but  to  buy  him;  and  I  am 
willing  to  pay  you  what  you  gave  for  him,  half- 
a-dollar ;  though  as  a  matter  of  right,  I  suppose 
we  are  entitled  to  take  away  our  dog  when- 
ever we  can  find  him." 


Carlo    Found.  123 

Carlo  recognizes  Mary  Bell.  He  will  not  obey. 

"  But  how  do  I  know  that  he  is  your  dog  ?" 
asked  Mr.  Golding,  speaking  in  rather  a  surly- 
tone.  "  You  claim  him,  but  what  proof  is  there 
that  he  is  yours  ?" 

"  Call  him,  Mary  Bell,"  said  Beechnut. 

Mary  Bell  was  very  glad  to  hear  this  order. 
She  turned  round  eagerly  toward  Carlo  and 
called  him. 

The  instant  that  Carlo  heard  the  sound  of 
her  voice  his  whole  appearance  changed.  He 
pricked  up  his  ears,  wagged  his  tail,  and  looked 
excited.  In  a  moment  he  ran  toward  the 
wagon,  leaped  up  into  it  at  a  bound,  over- 
whelmed Mary  Bell  with  his  caresses,  fright- 
ened Malleville,  and  in  fact  almost  upset  her  in 
her  seat,  and  then  leaping  down  again  he  began 
to  race  round  and  round  the  wagon,  first  this 
way  and  then  that,  as  if  he  were  distracted. 

"  Drive  on,  Mary  Bell/'  said  Beechnut,  "  up 
the  hill.     I  will  overtake  you  presently." 

Mary  Bell,  who  had  the  reins  in  her  hand 
all  the  time,  began  to  drive  on.  The  instant 
that  Carlo  saw  that  the  wagon  was  in  motion 
he  set  off  upon  the  full  run  along  the  road,  and 
was  soon  lost  to  view.  Mr.  Golding  called 
"Jock!  here  Jock!"  as- loud  as  he  could  call ; 
and  Beechnut  vociferated  "Carlo!  here  Car- 


124  Mary   Bell. 


Beechnut  tries  to  buy  him  back.  Negociatons. 

lo  !"  in  concert.  But  Carlo  had  got  the  idea 
of  going  home  again  fairly  into  his  head,  and 
away  he  bounded  along  the  road,  like  the  wind. 

Beechnut  took  out  one  of  his  half-dollars, 
and  holding  it  in  his  hand,  he  told  Mr.  Gold- 
ing  that  he  would  give  him  that,  but  that  he  did 
not  think  he  ought  to  give  any  more. 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  Golding,  with  a  sort  of  a 
sigh.  "  The  dog  is  well  worth  five  dollars, — 
any  man's  money.  But  since  you  say  he  is 
yours,  I  suppose  I  must  let  him  go.  And,  be- 
sides, I  expect  it  would  be  rather  hard  to  get 
him  back  again,  now  he  has  got  a  notion  into 
his  head  of  going  home." 

"Yes,"  said  Beechnut,  "I  expect  it  would." 

So  Beechnut  gave  Mr.  Golding  the  half-dol- 
lar, and  the  affair  was  settled.  Before  he  went 
away,  however,  he  asked  Mr.  Golding  if  it  was 
true  that  he  could  send  Carlo  to  a  spring  and 
make  him  dip  up  a  pail  of  water. 

"Oh,  yes,"  said  Mr.  Golding,  "he  will  do 
that.  And  once  he  saved  my  house  from  burn- 
ing up,  by  putting  it  out  when  it  got  on  fire." 

"  How  was  that  ?"  asked  Beechnut. 

"  Why,  he  came  into  the  kitchen  one  day," 
said  Mr.  Golding,  "  and  he  found  that  a  coal 
had  snapped  out  into  the  middle  of  the  floor, 


Carlo  Found.  125 

Anecdote  of  Carlo.  He  runs  forward. 

and  the  boards  were  all  in  a  blaze.  Carlo  be- 
gan to  bark,  and  run  around  the  room,  and  pres- 
ently he  found  an  old  woolen  mat  that  was  lying 
at  the  door.  He  seized  this  with  his  teeth,  and 
dragged  it  over  the  place  that  was  burning,  and 
so  stifled  the  fire.  We  were  all  out  in  the  field 
at  the  time,  but  we  heard  him  barking,  and 
thought  that  something  was  the  matter,  and  so 
we  came  in  ; — and  there  we  found  Carlo  jump- 
ing about  the  mat  in  the  middle  of  the  room, 
and  barking  at  the  smoke  that  was  coming  up 
through  it." 

Beechnut  laughed  at  this  story,  and  then  bid- 
ding Mr.  Golding  good-bye,  he  walked  on  up 
the  hill.  He  found  Mary  Bell  waiting  for  him 
at  the  top  of  it,  and  as  for  Carlo,  he  was  just  in 
sight,  as  far  along  the  road  as  they  could  see, 
standing  in  the  middle  of  the  road,  and  watch- 
ing the  wagon.  The  moment  he  saw  Beech- 
nut get  into  it,  he  bounded  on  again,  and  though 
Beechnut  drove  very  fast,  and  he  and  Mary  Bell 
and  Phonny  were  all  continually  calling  him, 
they  could  not  get  any  nearer  to  him  than  just 
to  keep  him  in  sight,  for  nearly  ten  miles. 

The  party  got  home  late  that  night,  meeting 
with  no  special  adventures  by  the  way,  except 
that  when  they  stopped  at  their  encampment 


126  Mary    Bell. 


Phonny  loses  his  hat.  The  axe  wanted  to  recover  it. 

going  home,  Phonny,  in  giving  three  cheers  of 
exultation  for  the  recovery  of  Carlo,  threw  his 
cap  so  high  into  the  air,  that  in  coming  down  it 
lodged  upon  the  top  of  a  tall  and  slender  tree, 
which  it  was  impossible  to  climb,  because  it  had 
no  branches  near  the  ground.  So  Phonny  had 
to  ask  Beechnut  to  bring  his  axe  and  cut  the 
tree  down.  This  proved  the  wisdom  of  pro- 
viding, as  Beechnut  had  suggested,  for  the  pos 
sibility  that  other  contingencies  might  occur, 
requiring  the  use  of  the  axe,  besides  the  five 
which  he  had  enumerated. 

The  whole  party  arrived  at  Mrs.  Bell's  just 
before  dark.  Beechnut  left  Mary  Bell  on  the 
great  stone  step  of  the  door,  with  Carlo  by  her 
side  and  nine  of  Mrs.  Bell's  half-dollars  in  her 
hand,  and  then  hastened  home  himself  with 
Malleville  and  Phonny. 


Cordelia.  127 


Progress  in  making  the  path.  Difficulties. 


Chapter   VII. 

Cordelia. 

During  the  interval  which  elapsed  between 
the  losing  and  the  finding  of  Carlo,  the  boys  and 
girls  of  the  village  had  made  considerable  prog- 
ress in  the  work  of  the  new  path  up  to  the  Peak. 
When  the  plan  was  first  formed,  it  was  intended 
to  finish  the  work  in  one  day :  but  this  was 
found  impracticable.  The  young  workmen 
found  a  great  deal  more  to  do  than  they  had 
expected ;  or  rather,  as  they  became  interested 
in  the  work,  they  extended  their  plans,  and  un- 
dertook more  than  they  had  at  first  intended. 
They  assembled  in  small  companies,  each  on 
its  own  section  of  the  road,  on  several  succes- 
sive Saturdays,  and  thus  made  a  slow,  but  yet 
very  decided  progress.-  At  length,  however, 
they  began  to  grow  tired  of  the  work.  They 
had  undertaken,  in  fact,  more  extensive  im- 
provements than  they  had  strength  and  perse- 
verance to  execute,  and  thus  had  begun  to  get 
somewhat  tired  and  discouraged;  so  that  it 
happened  that  at  the  time  when  Beechnut  and 


128  Mary  Bell. 


Beechnut's  plan  for  getting  it  finished. 


Mary  Bell  went  in  pursuit  of  Carlo,  with  Phon- 
ny  and  Malleville,  as  described  in  the  last  chap- 
ter, the  operations  on  the  road  had  been  for  two 
or  three  weeks  almost  entirely  suspended.  Mary 
Bell  asked  Beechnut,  as  they  were  riding  home 
from  Number  Five,  what  they  could  do  to  get 
the  work  completed. 

"  Why  you  must  have  a  plan  for  some  sort 
of  grand  celebration,"  said  Beechnut,  "  to  take 
place  as  soon  as  the  path  is  done.  Then  the 
boys  will  work  hard  to  finish  the  path,  so  as  to 
have  the  celebration." 

"  Yes,"  said  Mary  Bell.  "  That  will  be  an 
excellent  plan,  I  think.  I  will  talk  with  Caro- 
line about  it." 

Caroline,  when  she  came  to  be  consulted  by 
Mary  Bell,  liked  the  plan  of  the  celebration 
very  much.  She  immediately  made  it  known 
among  the  boys,  and  it  infused  into  their  minds 
a  new  stimulus,  and  made  them  all  very  eager 
for  the  completion  of- the  work.  She  asked 
some  of  the  older  boys,  how  soon  they  thought 
it  would  be  safe  to  appoint  the  time  for  the 
celebration.  They  said,  the  next  week.  But 
Phonny,  when  he  heard  of  the  affair,  begged 
Caroline  to  put  off  the  celebration  till  the  week 
after  the  next,  for  then  he  expected  his  cousin 


Cordelia.  129 


A  celebration  appointed.  Day  fixed.  Wallace. 

Wallace  in  town,  and  he  was  very  desirous  that 
Wallace  should  be  present  at  the  celebration. 
Besides,  Wallace  would  help  them  finish  the 
road,  if  any  thing  should  remain  to  be  done 
after  he  arrived.  So  Caroline  very  willingly 
postponed  the  day.  In  fact,  she  thought  her- 
self that  it  would  be  very  pleasant  to  have 
Wallace  at  the  celebration. 

Wallace  was  a  young  college  student.  He 
had  often  been  at  Franconia  in  his  vacations, 
and  he  was  well  acquainted  with  Caroline  and 
with  Mary  Bell,  as  well  as  with  most  of  the  other 
girls  and  boys  of  the  village.  He  was  very 
young,  although  he  was  a  college  student, 
being  between  thirteen  and  fourteen  years  of 
age. 

Wallace  arrived  at  Franconia  on  Saturday 
evening.  The  day  fixed  upon  for  the  celebra- 
tion was  on  the  following  Tuesday.  On  Mon- 
day, Wallace  went  about  the  neighborhood  to 
make  calls  upon  his  old  friends.  He  began  at 
the  village,  and  went  first  to  see  several  of  the 
boys  who  had  been-  his  play-mates  in  former 
years.  He  found  some  of  them  at  home,  and 
some  at  stores  and  other  places  of  business 
where  they  were  beginning  to  be  employed  as 
voung  men.  He  called  next  at  Caroline's. 
I 


130  Mary    Bell. 


Wallace's  calls  upon  his  friends.  Caroline's. 

She  lived  in  a  large  and  handsome  white  house, 
in  the  center  of  the  village.  Wallace  entered 
at  a  gate  and  walked  up  a  paved  walk,  with 
beautiful  trees  and  shrubbery  on  each  side  of  it, 
all  of  which  were  kept  in  fine  order  by  the  gar- 
dener. He  rang  at  the  door  of  the  house,  and 
was  received  by  a  domestic,  who  ushered  him 
into  a  very  handsomely-furnished  parlor.  It 
was  rather  dark  when  Wallace  first  went  in, 
but  the  girl  opened  the  shutters  and  that  made 
it  lighter.  Wallace  took  a  seat  upon  a  splendid 
sofa,  and  the  girl  went  away,  saying  that  she 
would  speak  to  Miss  Caroline. 

It  was  some  time  before  Caroline  appeared, 
and  Wallace  amused  himself  by  looking  around 
the  room.  Some  of  the  furniture  was  new, 
and  some  he  recollected  to  have  seen  there  be- 
fore. There  was  a  center-table  in  the  middle 
of  the  room,  with  beautiful  books  upon  it,  and 
also  a  large  and  splendid  lamp,  with  a  large 
globe  of  ground  glass  at  the  top.  Then  there 
were  carved  chairs  and  sofas,  and  a  magnifi- 
cent piano,  and  handsome  curtains  at  the  win- 
dows, and  paintings  upon  the  walls,  and  great 
mirrors.  Every  thing  was  very  splendid,  but 
Wallace  became  tired  of  looking  at  them  long 
before  Caroline  came. 


Cordelia.  131 


The  call  at  Caroline's.  Conversation. 

"  I  suppose  she  is  waiting  to  dress  herself 
prettily,"  said  Wallace,  "but  I  would  rather 
that  she  would  come  quick." 

Caroline  appeared  after  a  time,  and  she  was 
dressed  very  prettily  indeed.  She  was  natur- 
ally very  beautiful,  and  she  had  a  great  deal  of 
taste,  so  that  her  appearance  was  extremely 
prepossessing.  She  shook  hands  very  cordially 
with  Wallace,  when  she  came  in,  and  said  that 
she  was  extremely  pleased  to  see  him. 

"  I  heard,"  said  she,  "  that  you  were  coming 
about  this  time,  and  I  was  very  glad,  for  I 
want  to  invite  you  to  attend  the  celebration  of 
the  opening  of  our  new  road  to  the  Peak  to- 
morrow." 

Wallace  said  that  he  should  be  very  happy 
to  be  of  the  party.  He  conversed  with  Caro- 
line some  time  longer  in  respect  to  the  celebra- 
tion and  the  road  to  the  Peak,  and  said  that 
he  was  sorry  that  he  had  not  been  in  Xown  so 
as  to  do  his  share  in  the  construction  of  the 
work.  At  the  proper  time  he  rose  and  took  his 
leave. 

After  making  all  his  other  calls,  he  went 
round,  on  his  way  home,  by  the  road  which  led 
by  Mrs.  Bell's,  to  call  and  see  Mary.  As  he 
walked  up  into  the  yard,  he  saw  Mrs.  Bell  sit- 


132  Mart  Bell. 


The  call  at  Mary  Bell's.  Mary  Bell  in  the  garden. 

ting  at  the  window,  in  an  easy  chair :  but  she 
looked  pale  and  sick.  Her  eye  brightened  up, 
however,  at  once  when  she  saw  Wallace.  She 
accosted  him  with  great  cordiality,  and  asked 
him  to  walk  in.  "Come  and  see  me  a  few 
minutes  first,"  said  she,  "  and  then  you  may  go 
and  find  Mary  Bell.     She  is  in  the  garden."  * 

So  Wallace  walked  into  the  room  where  Mrs. 
Bell  was  sitting,  and  began  to  talk  with  her 
about  his  coming  home  from  college,  and  how 
long  he  was  going  to  stay,  and  how  his  father 
and  mother  were,  in  New  York,  when  suddenly 
Mary  Bell  herself  came  in  from  the  garden. 
She  was  dressed  very  plainly,  and  neatly,  and 
she  had  a  sun-bonnet  upon  her  head,  the  cape 
to  which  hung  down  over  her  shoulders.  Be- 
neath this  bonnet  her  happy  face  beamed  with 
an  expression  of  excitement  and  pleasure,  which 
was  called  forth  by  the  gratification  it  gave  her 
to  see  Wan"ace  again.  Wallace  went  up  to  her 
to  shake  hands  with  her,  and  said  that  he  was 


#  It  may  seem  strange  that  Mrs.  Bell  should  always  call 
her  daughter  by  her  full  name,  Mary  Bell,  instead  of  simply 
Mary.  She  acquired  the  habit  of  so  doing  in  former  yeara 
to  distinguish  her  from  a  certain  Mary  Erskine  who  lived  for 
a  long  time  in  her  family,  and  whose  history  is  given  in  an- 
other volume. 


Cordelia.  133 


The  garden  seeds.  Mary  Bell's  plan  for  gathering  them 

very  glad  to  see  her.  She  gave  him  her  hand, 
saying  at  the  same  time,  timidly, 

"I  was  out  in  the  garden,  and  I  saw  you 
coming,  and  so  I  came  in." 

"  What  are  you  doing  in  the  garden,"  asked 
Wallace,  "  at  this  time  of  the  year  ?" 

"  Oh,  I  am  gathering  my  mother's  seeds," 
said  Mary  Bell.     "  I  always  gather  the  seeds." 

After  a  little  time,  Wallace  went  out  into  the 
garden  with  Mary  Bell  to  see  what  she  was 
doing.  The  seeds  that  she  was  gathering  were 
the  seeds  of  common  garden  vegetables.  Mary 
Bell  was  accustomed  to  gather  them,  and  lay 
them  in  the  sun  to  dry,  and  afterwards  to  rub 
them  out  of  their  various  husks  and  capsules, 
and  finally  to  put  them  up  neatly  in  papers,  to 
be  used  the  next  spring. 

"  Are  they  really  good  for  any  thing  ?"  asked 
Wallace,  as  he  saw  the  seeds  all  arranged  along 
a  bench  in  the  garden. 

"  Certainly,"  said  Mary  Bell.  "  My  mother 
says  that  the  seeds  which  I  gather  for  her.  save 
her  half  a  dollar  every  spring." 

Wallace  assisted  Mary  Bell  for  a  little  time 
in  putting  up  her  seeds,  and  then  they  went  to- 
gether to  find  Carlo.  Mary  Bell  had  told  Wal- 
lace the  story  of  the  dog's  getting  lost  and  of 


134  Mary  Bell. 


Carlo.  Talk  about  the  celebration.  Mra.  Bell. 


the  adventures  which  she  had  had  in  going  with 
Beechnut  to  find  him  ;  and  so  Wallace  was  cu- 

■v 

rious  to  see  the  dog.  As  they  walked  along, 
Wallace  spoke  of  the  celebration  which  was  to 
take  place  the  next  day,  and  said  he  hoped  that 
Mary  Bell  would  be  there.  Mary  Bell  said  that 
she  did  not  know  whether  she  should  go  or  not, 
for  her  mother  was  not  well. 

"  Oh,  she  will  let  you  go,"  said  Wallace. 

"  Yes.  I  suppose  she  would,"  said  Mary 
Bell,  "  if  I  should  ask  her ;  but  I  am  not  going 
to  ask  her  until  I  see  how  she  is  to-night." 

"  Why  you  might  tell  her  about  it  now,"  said 
Wallace,  "  and  ask  her  if  you  can  go,  in  case 
she  is  well  enough." 

"But  I  don't  wish  to  have  her  know  any 
thing  about  it,"  said  Mary  Bell,  "  unless  she  is 
well  enough  to  have  me  go ;  for  if  she  knows 
there  is  to  be  a  celebration,  she  will  think  that 
I  wish  to  go,  and  so  she  will  be  uneasy  all  day, 
in  having  me  stay  at  home." 

Wallace  did  not  reply  to  this,  but  he  thought 
that  Mary  Bell  was  very  considerate  and  kind. 
He  said,  finally,  that  he  hoped  that  she  would 
go,  and  after  some  farther  conversation,  he 
bade  Mary  Bell  good-bye,  and  went  home. 

The   next    morning..   Wallace   sent   Phonnv 


Cordelia.  135 


Mary  Bell  is  not  to  go.  The  celebration  party. 

very  early  to  Mrs.  Bell's,  to  ask  Mary  if  she 
was  going.  He  charged  Phonny  to  ask  her 
privately.  In  due  time  Phonny  came  back, 
saying  that  Mary  Bell  had  told  him  that  her 
mother  was  a  little  better,  but  that  she  was  not 
well  enough  to  be  left  alone,  and  that  Mary  Bell 
accordingly  was  not  to  go.  Wallace  was  very 
sorry.  Malleville  was  very  sorry  too.  She 
said  that  she  had  a  great  mind  not  to  go  to  the 
celebration  herself,  but  to  go  instead  and  keep 
Mary  Bell  company,  at  home  with  her  mother. 
She  concluded  finally,  however,  to  go  to  the 
celebration,  as  Mrs.  Henry  thought  it  was  not 
best  for  her  to  go  to  see  Mary  Bell  while  her 
mother  was  sick. 

The  celebration  party  met  at  one  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  at  a  gateway  which  opened  into 
a  path  in  a  field  leading  to  the  Peak.  The  field 
was  a  narrow,  but  beautiful,  meadow,  very  green, 
and  bordered  on  the  side  opposite  to  the  road,  by 
a  grove  of  trees,  which  was  in  fact  the  margin 
of  the  forest.  The  path  led  along  under  these 
trees  for  a  short  distance,  and  presently  turned 
down  into  a  little  dell  toward  a  brook.  It  was 
at  this  brook  that  the  work  of  the  boys  had 
commenced,  in  making  their  road. 

The  work  done  here  was  the  placing  of  some 


136  Mary  Bell. 


The  new  road.  The  stepping  stones.  The  monuments. 

stepping-stones,  so  as  to  make  a  way  for  getting 
across  the  brook  easily.  There  had  only  been 
a  fording-place  before,  made  by  the  cows  in 
walking  through  the  water.  The  children  had 
always  had  great  trouble  in  jumping  across  this 
brook,  and  often  got  their  feet  wet  or  their  shoes 
muddy.  Now  there  were  three  heavy  and  solid 
stones — all  smooth  and  flat  upon  the  upper  sur- 
face— placed  at  equal  distances  from  each  other, 
one  in  the  middle  of  the  brook,  and  the  others 
near  the  banks.  It  was  very  easy  to  step  from 
one  of  these  stones  to  the  other.  In  fact,  it  was 
so  easy  and  so  safe,  that  several  of  the  little  girls 
when  the  party  passed  over,  ran  back  and  forth 
over  the  stepping-stones  several  times.  On  the 
side  of  a  large  stone  half  embedded  in  the  bank, 
very  near  the  spot,  the  letters  S.  and  L.  were 
painted  with  black  paint.  These  letters  were 
not  very  large,  but  they  were  very  distinct, 
There  was  a  circle  around  them.  The  letters 
stood  for  Sarah  and  Louisa,  the  girls  who  had 
had  charge  of  this  section  of  the  road. 

From  the  stepping-stones  the  path  passed  up 
through  the  woods,  in  a  gently  ascending  course. 
The  boys  had  cut  down  the  bushes  that  were  in 
the  way,  and  dragged  off  the  old  logs,  and  roots, 
and  stones,  and  dead  branches,  which  had  pre- 


Cordelia.  137 


A.  A.  The  pavement.  The  party  reach  the  summit. 

viously  encumbered  the  path.  At  length  the 
road  emerged  from  the  wood,  and  came  out 
upon  the  steep  side  of  a  hill  overgrown  with 
ferns  and  mosses,  and  with  a  surface  sadly  dis- 
figured with  cradle  holes  and  hummocks.  Here 
there  was  another  stone,  marked  A.  A.  One 
of  the  letters  was  for  Anna,  and  the  other  for 
Augusta.  A  good  deal  of  digging  was  required 
to  make  the  path  good  across  this  land,  but  the 
work  had  been  effectually  accomplished,  and  the 
whole  party  went  on  over  this  part  of  the  road 
with  great  satisfaction  and  pleasure. 

The  next  section  of  the  road  led  over  a  tract 
which  was  covered  with  loose  stones.  The 
boys  had  contrived  to  arrange  the  stones  along 
the  path  in  this  section  so  as  to  make  quite  a 
respectable  pavement. 

Thus  the  party  continued  to  advance  over 
one  section  after  another  of  the  road,  stopping 
sometimes  to  admire  the  improvements  which 
had  been  made,  and  at  others  to  examine  the 
monuments,  and  to  call  over  the  names  which 
the  initials  denoted.  At  length,  somewhat 
tired,  from  the  labor  of  the  ascent,  which  was, 
after  all,  pretty  arduous,  notwithstanding  the 
improved  condition  of  the  way,  they  reached 
the  summit,  and  putting  the  various  baskets 


138 


Mary    Bell. 


Arrangements  for  the  collation. 


and  bags  with  which  they  were  loaded  on  a 
great  flat  stone,  they  sat  down  themselves  upon 
the  rocks  and  upon  mossy  banks  to  rest. 


The  place  which  had  been  fixed  upon  for  the 
collation  was  round  on  the  shady  side  of  the 
Peak,  a  little  below  the  summit,  where  there 
wras  a  spring  of  cool  water  in  a  little  sequestered 
dell,  with  steep  precipices  overhung  with  mosses 
and  climbing  vines,  and  dark  evergreens,  be- 
hind it.  Here  the  party  assembled,  and  after 
spending  half  an  hour  in  opening  their  stores 


Cordelia.  139 


Caroline's  plan  to  go  and  see  the  waterfall. 


and  spreading  their  tables,  they  began  the  feast, 
for  which  their  exertions  in  climbing  had  given 
them  an  excellent  appetite.  Caroline  was,  as 
usual,  the  leader  and  directress  of  every  thing, 
and  she  made  everybody  happy  by  her  good 
humor,  her  playful  wit,  and  the  adroitness  and 
dexterity  with  which  she  performed  the  duties 
of  management.  She  kept  everybody  and 
every  thing  under  her  direction  and  control, 
and  yet  she  accomplished  her  ends  by  means  so 
graceful  and  so  winning,  that  everybody  was 
pleased.  Wallace  admired  her  very  much , 
and  yet  he  was,  after  all,  very  sorry  that  Mary 
Bell  was  not  there. 

After  the  collation  was  over,  Caroline  pro- 
posed that  the  whole  party,  except  the  little 
children,  should  make  an  excursion  along  the 
rocks  to  see  a  waterfall  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  distant.  The  little  children,  she  said, 
could  not  go  very  well,  it  was  so  far ;  and  be- 
sides, they  could  not  climb  over  the  rocks. 
They  might  stay,  therefore,  Caroline  said,  and 
play  about  the  Peak  until  the  rest  came  back. 
There  were  about  six  whom  Caroline  considered 
little.  Some  of  them  were  willing  to  stay, 
others  did  not  like  the  plan  at  all.  They  wished 
very  much  to  go  and   see  the  waterfall ;  and 


140  Mary  Bell. 


Wallace  remains  behind.  Caroline  is  displeased. 

then  more  than  that,  they  did  not  like  to  be 
called  little. 

Wallace  concluded  on  the  whole  that  he 
would  stay  with  this  party  that  was  to  be  left 
behind.  There  were,  without  him,  enough  boys 
to  wait  upon  all  the  girls  that  were  to  go.  As 
for  Caroline  herself,  she  had  had,  he  thought, 
abundance  of  attention  all  the  day.  She  al- 
ways contrived  to  have  several  of  the  boys  in 
close  attendance  upon  her,  and  she  had  that 
day  managed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  have  Wal- 
lace generally  among  them.  On  the  whole, 
Wallace  concluded  that  some  how  or  other, 
though  he  scarcely  knew  why,  he  would  rather 
remain  with  the  little  girls.  Caroline  was 
somewhat  displeased  at  this.  She  could  not, 
however,  decidedly  object  to  it,  for,  as  Wallace 
said,  it  might  not  be  quite  safe  to  leave  the  little 
girls  at  the  Peak  alone.  She  seemed,  however, 
notwithstanding  this  reasoning,  to  consider 
Wallace's  remaining  behind,  as  in  some  sense 
a  personal  slight,  and  in  setting  out  for  the 
waterfall  she  went  away  at  the  head  of  the 
company  that  were  to  go,  with  an  air  of  of- 
fended and  haughty  dignity. 

The  children  left  behind  were  somewhat 
tired,  and  after  rambling  about  the  rocks  a  little 


Cordelia.  141 


The  children  sit  down.         Wallace  begins  a  story.         The  Palisades. 

while,  gathering  mosses  and  flowers,  they  found 
a  very  good  place  to  sit  down.  After  establish- 
ing themselves  pleasantly  here,  they  called  to 
Wallace  and  asked  him  if  he  would  not  come 
to  tell  them  a  story.  Wallace  came  and  sat 
down  beside  them,  saying, 

"  Yes,  I  will  tell  you  a  story.  What  shall  it 
be  about  ?" 

"  About  New  York,"  said  one  of  the  younger 
girls.  She  had  never  been  at  New  York,  and 
so  she  wished  to  hear  something  about  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  city. 

"Well,"  said  Wallace,  "I  will  tell  you 
about  an  excursion  we  took  from  New  York 
up  the  Hudson  river  to  the  Palisades." 

"  The  Palisades,  you  must  know,"  continued 
Wallace,  "are  a  long  range  of  precipices  as 
high  as  the  Peak,  and  perfectly  perpendicular, 
that  is,  steep  like  a  wall,  toward  the  river. 
They  extend  along  the  river  a  great  many 
miles,  and  nobody  could  possibly  climb  up  to 
the  top  of  them  from  the  side  toward  the  water, 
it  is  so  steep." 

"At  the  lower  end  of  the  Palisades,"  con- 
tinued Wallace,  "that  is,  where  they  begin, 
there  is  a  sort  of  gap  or  valley,  very  green  and 
pleasant,  opening  from  the  river  to  the  country 


142  Mary  Bell. 


Bull's  ferry.         The  excursion  of  Mr.  James.         Wallace  with  them. 

beyond,  and  here  there  is  a  path  that  leads  up 
to  the  top  of  the  Palisades.  At  the  bottom  of 
this  valley,  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  there  is  a 
good  landing  where  there  is  a  ferry  that  comes 
from  across  the  river.  They  call  it  Bull's 
Ferry." 

"Is  it  because  they  ferry  the  bulls  across 
there  ?"  asked  one  of  the  little  children. 

"  No,"  said  Wallace,  "  I  presume  not.  Per- 
haps the  man  that  first  established  the  ferry 
was  named  Mr.  Bull.  I  don't  know  how  that 
may  be.  I  only  know  it  is  always  called  Bull's 
Ferry ;  and  as  it  is  only  a  short  and  pleasant 
sail  up  the  river  from  New  York,  and  inasmuch 
as  when  you  get  there  you  can  climb  to  the  top 
of  the  Palisades,  it  makes  it  a  very  pleasant  ex- 
cursion to  go  to  Bull's  Ferry.  A  little  while 
ago  when  I  was  at  New  York,  there  was  to  be 
an  excursion  to  this  Bull's  Ferry,  and  I  was  in- 
vited to  go.  The  gentleman  who  had  charge 
of  the  excursion  was  named  Mr.  James,  and 
there  were  several  girls  and  boys  in  the  party, 
all  older  than  you. 

"  I  was  not  much  acquainted  with  the  girls  or 
the  boys  myself,"  continued  Wallace,"  and  so  I 
did  not  talk  with  them  a  great  deal.  I  sat  and 
observed  them  to  see  which  I  should  like  the 


Cordelia.  143 


Wallace  a  stranger  to  the  party.  Cordelia.  High  wind. 

best.  I  thought  I  would  watch  their  actions 
and  see  which  of  them  would  make  me  the 
best  wife,  in  case  I  were  old  enough  to  be  mar- 
ried." 

Wallace  felt  some  little  curiosity  to  observe 
whether  the  children  would  smile  at  the  oddity 
of  this  supposition,  but  they  did  not.  They  all 
sat  still  and  listened  with  an  air  of  the  most 
serious  and  profound  attention. 

"There  was  one  girl,55  continued  Wallace, 
"  named  Cordelia.  Her  countenance  wore  a 
very  animated  and  beaming  expression,  and  the 
tones  of  her  voice,  and  her  laugh,  were  so  full 
of  joyousness,  that  it  was  a  constant  pleasure  to 
hear  her.  I  thought  she  must  have  a  very  con- 
tented and  happy  disposition.  I  determined  to 
watch  her  and  see  what  she  would  do. 

"  The  wind  blew  very  fresh  when  the  steam- 
boat moved  from  the  wharf,  and  as  it  was  early 
in  the  morning,  it  was  rather  cold.  Mr.  James 
found  a  place  where  he  could  pin  up  his  cloak 
upon  some  awning-posts,  and  so  make  a  sort  of 
shelter.  It  was  very  difficult  to  pin  up  the 
cloak,  on  account  of  the  force  of  the  wind,  but 
finally,  he  accomplished  it,  and  when  it  was 
done,  a  great  many  of  the  girls  came  eagerly 
and  gathered  behind   it.   to  enjoy  the  shelter. 


144  Mary  Bell. 

Mr.  James  makes  a  shelter.  Cordelia's  consideration. 

Cordelia,  however,  was  not  there.  There  was 
not  room  for  all,  so  she  took  a  seat  upon  a 
camp-stool,  in  the  best  place  that  she  could 
find.  By  and  by,  when  the  steamboat  came 
pretty  near  to  the  end  of  the  voyage,  all  the 
girls  who  had  been  behind  the  cloak,  jumped 
up  and  ran  forward  to  see  the  landing.  Mr. 
James  then  tried  to  take  down  the  cloak,  but 
the  wind  flapped  it  in  his  face,  and  he  could  not 
find  the  pins.  Cordelia,  seeing  this,  came  over 
to  help  him.  'Why,  Mr.  James!'  said  she. 
'  You  took  all  this  pains  to  make  a  shelter  for 
them,  and  now  they  have  every  one  gone  off 
and  left  you  to  take  down  the  cloak  alone !' " 

"  Why  did  not  you  go  and  help  him,  Mr. 
Wallace  ?"  asked  one  of  the  little  girls  who 
were  listening  to  Wallace's  story. 

"  I  did,"  said  Wallace,  "  and  got  there  just  in 
time  to  hear  what  Cordelia  was  saying  to  Mr. 
James.  I  then  said  to  myself,  '  Yes,  she  would 
make  a  good  wife.  She  is  considerate,  grateful, 
and  kind-hearted.' 

"  Some  time  after  this,"  continued  Wallace, 
"  after  we  had  been  up  to  the  top  of  the  Pali- 
sades, and  had  come  down  again  to  the  shore, 
we  were  all  amusing  ourselves  in  a  little  cove 
by  the  bank  of  the  river.     Two  of  the  boys 


Cordelia.  145 


Thomas  wets  his  shoes.  Cordelia's  opinion. 

were  standing  on  the  edge  of  the  water,  build- 
'vzg  a  pier  with  small  flat  stones.  One  of  them 
stood  where  the  rippling  waves  dashed  up  over 
his  feet,  so  as  to  wet  his  shoes  and  stockings. 
The  girls  were  sitting  in  various  places  on  the 
rocks  around,  looking  on  with  interest  and 
pleasure,  while  the  boys  built  their  pier.  They 
seemed  to  be  amused  at  seeing  Thomas  get  his 
feet  so  wet.  Cordelia,  however,  looked  anxious 
and  distressed.  '  He  ought  not  to  do  so,'  said 
she,  speaking  to  herself;  '  his  shoes  will  be 
spoiled,  and  they  are  new  ones  that  his  mother 
bought  for  him  yesterday.'  I  heard  her  say 
this,  for  I  was  near  by,  although  she  did  not 
know  it ;  so  I  said  to  myself,  '  Yes,  she  will 
make  a  good  wife.  She  is  thoughtful  and  con- 
siderate, and  careful  of  property.' 

"  By  and  by  we  got  through  our  visit  at  the 
Ferry,  and  set  out  on  our  return  home.  We 
sat  upon  the  deck  of  the  steamboat,  looking  at 
the  beautiful  scenery  on  the  shores  of  the  river. 
The  wind  had  gone  down,  and  the  weather  was 
delightful.  The  beams  of  the  sun,  however, 
were  very  powerful,  and  the  girls  of  the  party 
seemed  all  very  much  afraid  that  they  should 
get  sunburnt  or  tanned.  They  were  covering 
their  faces  very  carefully  with  their  veils.    Cor- 


146  Mary  Bell. 


The  veils.  Cordelia  shelters  her  flowers.  Mary  Bell. 

delia  had  a  bouquet  of  beautiful  wild  flowers, 
which  she  had  collected  on  the  Palisades,  and 
she  took  her  green  veil  off  from  her  bonnet,  and 
covered  her  flowers  with  it,  hoping  by  that 
means  to  protect  them  from  the  sun  till  she 
could  get  them  home.  I  observed  her  and  said 
to  myself,  '  Yes ;  I  like  Cordelia.  She  values 
and  enjoys  the  beauty  which  she  sees  around 
her,  and  thinks  but  little  of  her  own.' " 

Just  then  Malleville  started  up  suddenly,  and 
clapping  her  hands,  called  out, 

"  Why  here  comes  Mary  Bell !"  The  party 
all  turned  in  the  direction  where  Malleville  was 
looking,  and  there  they  saw  Mary  Bell,  and  an- 
other girl  coming  up  the  path  together.  Mrs. 
Bell  had  become  very  much  better,  and  having 
accidentally  heard  of  the  celebration,  had  urged 
Mary  Bell  to  go  up  to  the  Peak,  and  enjoy  at 
least  a  part  of  the  pleasure.  Thus  a  very  im- 
portant accession  was  made  to  Wallace's  party. 
He  enjoyed  himself  very  much  in  talking  with 
them  all,  and  in  rambling  about  and  telling  more 
stories,  for  about  an  hour,  when  at  length  Caro- 
line returned  with  her  company  from  the  water- 
fall, and  then  they  all  went  down  the  hill  to- 
gether. 


The  Wagon  Ride.  147 

Plan  of  the  wagon  ride.  Beechnut  and  Wallace. 


Chapter   VIII. 

The   Wagon   Ride. 

About  a  week  after  the  celebration  at  the 
Peak,  Wallace  formed  a  plan  for  a  ride.  He 
procured  two  large  covered  wagons,  and  with 
Beechnut's  assistance,  he  arranged  three  com- 
fortable seats  in  each.  Each  of  these  seats 
would  accommodate  three  passengers,  so  that 
the  whole  party  was  to  consist  of  eighteen  per- 
sons, nine  in  each  wagon.  It  was  expected 
that  by  means  of  this  arrangement,  so  many 
could  be  together  in  one  vehicle,  that  they 
would  have  very  merry  times  as  they  rode 
along. 

(  The  whole  party  set  off  in  the  afternoon,  im- 
mediately after  dinner.  Beechnut  was  to  go, 
and  he  had  charge  of  one  wagon,  while  Wal- 
lace had  charge  of  the  other.  There  were  two 
horses  to  each  wagon,  as  one  horse  would  not 
have  been  sufficient  to  draw  so  heavy  a  load. 
The  day  was  delightful,  as  the  sky  was  clear 
and  the  air  was  cool.  The  country,  too,  was 
very  beautiful,  though  robed,  of  course,  at  this 


148  Mary  Bell. 

Scenery.  Picturesque  country.  The  apples. 

season  of  the  year,  in  brown,  autumnal  colors. 
The  party  took  a  road  which  led  along  the 
bank  of  the  river,  up  the  stream.  The  road 
conducted  them  through  a  wild  and  romantic 
valley,  which  presented  everywhere  a  great  va- 
riety of  enchanting  prospects.  Sometimes  lofty 
precipices  were  seen  towering  over  the  road 
upon  one  hand,  while  the  river  meandered  in  a 
foaming  torrent  along  its  rocky  bed  on  the 
other.  Then,  perhaps,  after  going  on  amid 
such  scenery  as  this  for  a  time,  the  wagons 
would  suddenly  enter  a  wood,  dark,  sombre, 
and  solitary,  with  birds  singing  in  prolonged 
and  varied  notes,  on  the  tops  of  distant  trees. 
After  a  short  time  again,  the  party  would 
emerge  from  the  wood  as  suddenly  as  they  had 
entered  it,  and  find  themselves  in  the  midst  of 
fertile  fields  of  ripened  corn,  or  of  orchards, 
with  vast  multitudes  of  rose-colored  or  golden- 
colored  apples,  adorning  the  trees.  Whenever 
among  these  orchards  the  children  observed  a 
tree  upon  which  the  apples  appeared  to  be  par- 
ticularly sweet  and  juicy,  they  stopped  to  gather 
some  of  them.  The  farmers  would  always  give 
them  as  many  as  they  wished  to  take. 

They  went  on  thus  very  pleasantly,  all  the 
party  enjoying  the  ride  very  much,  until  they 


The  Wagon  Ride.  149 

The  road  and  the  river.  The  ferry.  The  bridge. 

had  reached  the  end  of  their  excursion,  and 
were  about  setting  out  on  their  return ;  and 
then  a  difficulty  occurred  of  a  somewhat  singu- 
lar character,  which  resulted,  in  part,  at  least, 
from  what  had  taken  place  at  the  celebration 
on  the  Peak.  At  the  time  when  this  difficulty- 
occurred,  the  party  were,  in  fact,  only  about 
two  miles  from  home  in  a  straight  line, — and 
yet  they  could  not  get  home  without  riding  ten 
or  twelve  miles.  The  reason  of  this  was,  that 
after  going  up  the  river  five  or  six  miles,  they 
had  crossed  the  river  by  a  bridge  in  a  lonely 
place  among  the  mountains,  and  had  then  come 
down  on  the  other  side,  until  they  were  nearly 
opposite  to  the  place  from  whence  they  had 
started.  As,  however,  the  river  was  between, 
and  as  there  was  no  bridge  nearer  than  the  one 
that  they  had  come  over,  they  could  not  get 
home  without  going  back  by  the  way  that  they 
came.  It  is  true,  there  was  a  ferry  across  the 
river,  as  well  as  a  bridge ;  but  the  ferry  was 
several  miles  below  where  they  were,  so  that 
the  best  way  to  return  was  undoubtedly  by  the 
bridge.  Thus  the  party  were  now,  by  the  road, 
ten  or  twelve  miles  from  home. 

The   object  of  the  excursion  had   been  to 
ascend  a  high  hill  which  was  situated  in  this 


150  Mary   Bell. 

Situation  of  the  wagons.  How  the  company  were  seated. 

region,  and  which  commanded  a  very  extensive 
view.  The  party  ascended  the  hill,  and  en- 
joyed the  prospect,  and  were  now  on  their  re* 
turn. 

Beechnut,  with  the  wagon  which  he  was 
driving,  was  in  advance.  The  two  wagons 
were  accustomed  to  keep  at  some  distance 
apart,  in  order  that  the  one  which  was  behind 
might  not  be  incommoded  by  any  dust  that 
might  be  raised  by  the  other.  Beechnut  and 
his  party  were,  accordingly,  so  far  in  advance 
that  they  only  appeared  in  view  from  time  to 
time,  at  a  distance,  along  the  road.  The  wagon 
in  which  Wallace  was  riding,  followed.  Parker 
was  driving  it.  He  sat,  of  course,  on  the  front 
seat.  Caroline  sat  upon  one  side  of  him,  and 
Augusta  upon  the  other.  Mary  Bell  and  Mal- 
leville  were  upon  the  middle  seat,  and  Wallace 
sat  behind.  The  curtains  of  the  wagon  were 
rolled  up,  so  that  all  the  party  had  an  unob- 
structed view  on  every  side. 

At  length,  in  passing  by  a  farm-house,  Caro- 
line said  that  she  was  thirsty,  and  she  proposed 
to  Parker  to  stop  the  wagon  in  order  that  they 
might  all  get  a  drink  of  water. 

"  Wallace  will  get  us  the  water,"  said  she, 
"  for  he  can  get  out  most  easily/' 


The  Wagon   Ride.  151 

They  stop  for  a  drink.  Wallace  and  the  little  girl. 

"  Yes,"  said  Wallace ;  "  I  can  get  out  very 
easily,  indeed." 

So  saying,  and,  in  fact,  before  Parker  had 
wholly  stopped  the  horses,  Wallace  got  out  at  a 
sort  of  a  side-door,  which  was  between  the 
second  and  third  seats,  where  there  was  an  iron 
step  leading  to  the  ground.  He  walked  up  to- 
ward the  farm-house,  which  was  at  a  little  dis- 
tance from  the  road,  to  ask  for  some  water. 

He  knocked  at  the  door,  and  a  little  girl  came 
to  see  who  was  there.  Wallace  asked  her  »r 
she  would  ~be~^S63 "enough  to  give  him  a  mug 
of  water.  She  answered  with  much  alacrity 
that  she  would  go  and  get  some.  She  then 
went  into  the  house  again,  leaving  Wallace  at 
the  door. 

Wallace  turned  around  and  looked  toward  the 
wagon,  which  remained  all  this  time  standing 
quietly  in  the  road.  It  warf  too  far  off  for  him 
to  speak,  but  he  waved  his  handkerchief  to  indi- 
cate to  the  party  in  the  wagon  that  things  were 
in  proper  train  for  getting  some  water.  He 
remained  standing  in  this  position  at  the  door 
for  some  time,  until  at  length  he  began  to  won- 
der what  the  girl  in  the  house  was  doing. 

The  fact  was,  that  the  girl  found,  on  looking 
at  the  water-pail,  in  the  house,  that  the  watei 


152  Mary  Bell. 


The  girl  goes  for  water.  Malleville  and  Mary  Bell. 

in  it  had  been  standing  for  some  time ;  and  not 
wishing  to  offer  any  but  good  cool  and  fresh 
water  to  so  genteel  a-looking  stranger  as  Wal- 
lace, she  had  concluded  to  go  to  the  spring  and 
get  some  more.  It  was  this  that  occasioned 
the  delay. 

While  she  was  gone,  and  Wallace  remained 
standing  at  the  step,  Malleville  saw  a  flower 
growing  by  the  roadside,  and  she  asked  Mary 
Bell  to  let  her  get  out  and  gather  it. 

"  Oh  no,  child,"  said  Caroline,  "  sit  still ; 
Wallace  will  be  back  very  soon,  and  then  we 
shall  want  to  go  directly  on." 

"Oh  let  her  get  out,"  said  Parker.  "After 
Wallace  brings  the  water  and  we  have  all 
drank,  he  will  have  to  go  back  to  the  farm- 
house with  the  mug,  so  that  there  will  be  plenty 
of  time." 

"  Yes,"  said  Mary  Bell,  "  and  I  will  get  out 
with  her,  and  so  help  her  to  get  back  again." 

Accordingly,  Mary  Bell  and  Malleville  got 
out  together.  Malleville  climbed  very  slowly 
down  the  step,  and  just  as  she  reached  the 
ground,  she  saw  Wallace  coming  down  the 
farmer's  yard,  with  the  mug  of  water  in  one 
hand,  and  a  tumbler  in  the  other. 

Malleville  found  several  flowers,   one  after 


The  Wagon  Ride.  153 

Malleville's  interest  in  the  flowers.  Parker  and  Caroline. 

another,  growing  in  the  grass,  and  she  re- 
mained gathering  them  until  all  in  the  wagon 
had  had  their  drink.  Wallace  then  offered 
some  water  to  Mary  Bell,  and  finally,  after  she 
had  drank,  he  began  to  go  back  toward  the 
house  with  the  mug  and  the  tumbler.  Malle- 
ville  did  not  wish  for  any  water.  She  was 
too  much  occupied  with  her  flowers  to  be 
thirsty. 

"Come,  Malleville,"  said  Mary  Bell,  "we 
must  get  in." 

"  Yes,"  said  Malleville,  "  in  one  minute. 
Here  is  one  more  flower  that  I  want  to  get." 

"  We  shall  have  to  wait  for  her,"  said  Caro- 
line. "  I  knew  we  should."  Then  suddenly, 
as  if  a  new  thought  just  struck  her,  she  added, 
""  Drive  on,  Parker ;  let  us  run  away  from  them 
a  little  way." 

So  Parker  began  to  drive  on.  Caroline  looked 
around  to  see  what  Mary  Bell  and  Malleville 
appeared  to  think  of  being  thus  left  behind. 
Malleville,  she  observed,  looked  a  little  fright- 
ened ;  but  Mary  Bell  stood  quietly  by  the  road- 
side, smiling,  and  seeming  to  be  entirely  at  her 
ease. 

Caroline,  seeing  that  Mary  Bell  appeared  so 
unconcerned,  directed  Parker  to  drive  forward, 


154  Mary   Bell. 


Caroline  and  Parker  drive  away.  Caroline's  jealousy. 

saying,  "  We  will  go  on  far  enough  to  frighten 
her  a  little,  at  any  rate." 

Besides,  she  just  then  saw  Wallace  coming 
down  from  the  farm-house,  and  she  determined 
at  once  that  it  would  be  good  fun  to  teaze  him 
and  Mary  Bell  a  little,  together.  She  was  good- 
natured  about  it,  it  is  true,  intending  only  a  lit- 
tle harmless  pleasantry ;  and  yet  there  was,  after 
all,  a  slight  tinge  of  jealousy  and  ill-will  in  the 
state  of  her  feelings.  She  could  not  help  fan- 
cying, that  Wallace  liked  Mary  Bell  better  than 
he  did  her,  and  she  had  not  entirely  forgiven 
his  coolness  in  not  washing  to  accompany  her 
on  the  excursion  to  the  water-fall,  at  the  day 
of  the  celebration  upon  the  Peak.  When  she 
came  back  from  the  water-fall,  and  found  that 
Mary  Bell  had  come  up  the  mountain  and 
joined  Wallace  and  his  party  during  her  ab- 
sence, she  could  not  help  suspecting  that  there 
had  been  some  secret  understanding  between 
them  in  respect  to  Mary  Bell's  coming.  She 
was,  however,  wrong  about  this.  Mary  Bell 
had  not  had  the  least  idea  of  coming  up  until 
half  an  hour  before  she  left  home,  and  Wallace 
had  no  thought  whatever  of  seeing  her.  The 
meeting  was  wholly  accidental. 

The  occurrences,  however,  left  a  trace  of 


The  Wagon  Ride.  155 

Parker  drives  on.  Mary  Bell's  anxiety. 

dissatisfaction  and  displeasure  upon  Caroline's 
mind,  and  caused  her  to  be  more  willing  to 
make  some  amusement  for  her  party  now,  at 
Mary  Bell's  expense. 

"  Drive  on,"  said  she  to  Parker.  "  Let  us  see 
what  they  will  do." 

Mary  Bell  began  to  feel  a  little  troubled. 
Just  then  Wallace  came  to  the  place  where 
she  was  standing. 

"  They  are  going  to  run  away  from  us,"  said 
she. 

"  Never  mind  that,"  said  Wallace,  "  they  will 
not  run  very  far,  I  think."  And  then,  in  order 
to  show  to  Caroline's  party  that  he  was  not 
very  much  concerned  at  being  thus  left  behind, 
he  began  to  examine  Malleville's  bouquet,  as- 
suming all  the  time  a  very  unconcerned  and 
contented  air. 

"  What  pretty  flowers !"  said  he. 

"  Yes,"  said  Malleville,  "  but  they  are  leaving 
us  behind.     Come,  let  us  run." 

"Oh,  no,"  said  Wallace.  "We  will  walk 
along  quietly.  They  will  stop  for  us  pretty 
soon." 

So  Wallace  began  to  walk  along  the  road 
very  composedly,  following  the  wagon  and  talk- 
ing with  Mary  Bell.     The  horses  were  walking 


15G  Mary  Bell. 


Wallace  and  Mary  Bell  run.  The  horses  run  too. 

along  slowly,  too.  The  company  in  the  wagon 
were  looking  back  at  them,  laughing  and  mak- 
ing burlesque  bows  of  salutation.  / 

Wallace  took  off  his  hat,  and  made  very  po- 
lite bows  in  return. 

"  We  had  better  run,"  said  Mary  Bell.  "  They 
will  not  stop  for  us,  unless  we  run  and  overtake 
them.     That  is  what  they  want  to  make  us  do." 

"  Well,"  said  Wallace.     "  If  you  wish  it." 

So  they  began  to  run. 

"  They  are  coming,  Parker,"  said  the  children 
in  the  back  part  of  the  wagon.  "  Whip  up. 
They  are  coming,  and  they  will  catch  us." 

"  Yes,  whip  up,  Parker,"  said  Caroline,  "  or 
they  will  catch  us." 

So  Parker  whipped  up  his  horses,  and  soon 
got  them  into  a  canter,  which,  of  course,  carried 
them  forward  much  faster  than  Wallace  and 
Mary  Bell  could  run.     So  Wallace  stopped. 

"  You  see  it  is  of  no  use  to  run,"  said  Wal- 
lace. "  We  will  walk  along  quietly,  until  they 
get  tired  of  their  nonsense,  and  then  they  will 
stop." 

"  I  hope  you  are  having  a  very  pleasant  walk, 
ladies  and  gentleman,"  said  Caroline,  calling  out 
from  the  wagon.  This  call  was  responded  to 
by  all  who  were  in  the  wagon,  with  long  and 


The  Wagon  Ride.  15^ 

Wallace  discouraged.  His  conversation  with  Mary  Bull. 

loud  peals  of  laughter.  Wallace  waved  his 
handkerchief,  as  if  in  acknowledgment  of  Caro- 
line's kind  wishes,  and  sauntered  slowly  along 
by  the  side  of  Mary  Bell. 

"  I'll  pay  her  for  laughing  at  us,  sometime  or 
other,"  said  Malleville. 

"  They  are  walking  along  together  as  if  they 
enjoyed  it,"  said  Caroline,  in  the  wagon.  "  But 
we  will  make  them  alter  their  opinion  before  we 
let  them  get  in  again,  won't  we,  Parker  ?" 

"  Yes,"  replied  Parker,  "  that  we  will." 

"  Whip  up,"  said  Caroline ;  "  let  us  make 
them  run  a  little." 

Parker  whipped  the  horses  and  made  them 
trot  on  for  a  considerable  distance.  Wallace 
and  his  party  were  left  very  far  behind. 

"  Weli,"  said  Wallace,  "I  don't  see  but  that 
we  shall  be  obliged  to  give  it  up.  Let  us  sit 
down  on  this  stone  and  consider  what  to  do." 

There  was  a  large  stone  by  the  side  of  the 
road  at  this  point,  and  Wallace  leading  the  way, 
they  all  three  went  and  sat  down  uppn  it. 
Mary  Bell  and  Malleville  both  began  to  look 
tired  and  anxious. 

"  There !"  said  Mary  Bell,  as  soon  as  they 
were  seated  on  the  rock,  "  they  have  stopped. 
They  are  going  to  let  us  get  in.     Let  us  go."    < 


158  Mary  Bell. 


Plans  for  getting  home.  Crossing  the  river. 

Wallace  and  his  company  accordingly  all  rose 
from  their  seats,  went  into  the  road  again,  and 
began  to  hurry  along  toward  the  wagon.  But 
as  soon  as  Parker  and  Caroline  saw  them  com- 
ing, they  whipped  up  the  horses  again,  and  went 
on  as  fast  as  ever. 

Wallace  and  his  party  then  slackened  their 
pace,  knowing  well  that  they  could  not  overtake 
the  horses  by  running  after  them,  and  began  to 
consider  what  to  do. 

"  They  have  made  us  walk  now,"  said  Wal- 
lace, "  about  half  a  mile,  and  that  is  far  enough 
for  any  reasonable  allowance  of  joking.  I  think 
that  the  best  plan  for  us  is  to  give  it  up  and  not 
try  to  overtake  them  any  more." 

"  But  then  how  shall  we  get  home  ?"  asked 
Mary  Bell.     "  It  must  be  ten  miles  or  more." 

"  It  is  ten  miles  round  by  the  road,"  replied 
Wallace,  "  but  we  might  go  the  other  way,  and 
get  across  the  river  by  some  means  or  other. 
It  can  not  be  more  than  two  or  three  miles  in  a 
straight  course." 

"  But  we  can  not  get  across  the  river,"  said 
Mary  Bell. 

"Oh  yes,"  said  Wallace.  "I  can  get  you 
across  in  some  way  or  other.  Or  if  I  can  not 
do  that,  I  can  get  another  wagon  of  some  oi 


The  Wagon  Ride.  159 

A  new  plan.  The  flag  of  truce. 

the  farmers  here,  and  take  you  home  round  by 
the  ferry." 

Mary  Bell  did  not  know  what  to  say  to  this 
proposal.  She  was  silent,  and  seemed  much 
perplexed.  f 

"  There  is  one  other  plan,"  said  Wallace, 
after  a  short  pause.  "  I  think  it  possible  that 
Caroline  and  Parker  will  allow  you  and  Malle- 
ville  to  get  into  the  wagon,  if  /  will  keep  back. 
Which  should  you  rather  do, — get  into  the 
wagon  without  me,  or  stay  with  me  and  get 
home  in  some  other  way  ?" 

Mary  Bell  hesitated.  Presently  she  said  that 
she  would  rather  stay  with  Wallace,  if  she 
could  choose ;  but  she  thought  that  perhaps  it 
would  be  better  for  her  to  get  into  the  wagon, 
if  they  would  allow  her  to  do  so. 

"  Very  well,"  said  Wallace,  "  we  will  try." 

So  saying,  Wallace  took  out  his  white  pocket- 
handkerchief  and  tied  it  by  one  corner  to  the 
end  of  his  cane,  as  a  signal  that  he  wished  to 
communicate  with  the  party  in  the  wagon.  He 
waved  it  in  the  air,  and  then  gave  it  to  Malle- 
ville  that  she  might  go  forward  a  little  way, 
while  he  and  Mary  Bell  remained  stationary. 
He  hoped  that  Caroline  would  understand  that 
this  was  a  signal  that  Malleville  had  a  message 


160 


Mary  Bell. 


Proposals  sent  by  Malleville. 


to  communicate  to  her.  Wallace  also  gave 
Malleville  her  message,  with  directions,  to  go 
forward  and  communicate  it  in  case  the  wagon 
should  stop. 

"  What  is  that  ?"  said  Caroline,  in  the  wagon. 
"It  is  a  flag  of  truce,  I  verily  believe.  I 
thought  that  we  could  bring  them  to  terms. 
Malleville  is  bringing  it.  Stop,  Parker,  and  let 
us  hear  what  they  have  to  say." 


THE     FLAG     OF     TRUCE 


So  Parker  reined  in  the  horses,  and  in  due 
time  Malleville  reached  the  wagon.     As  soon 


The  Wagon  Ride.  161 

Malleville's  proposal  accepted  conditionally. 

as  she  was  near  enough  to  speak,  she  addressed 
Caroline  as  follows : 

"  Wallace  says  he  wants  to  know  if  you  are 
not  willing  to  let  Mary  Bell  and  me  get  in; 
and  he  says  that  he  will  stay  back,  and  that 
then  you  may  make  him  walk  three  times  as 
far  as  you  were  going  to  make  us  all  walk; 
and  that  will  be  the  same  thing." 

Caroline  and  all  her  party  laughed  very 
heartily  at  this  proposal.  The  whole  affair  was 
to  them  nothing  but  amusement  and  pleasure ; 
and,  as  is  usually  the  case  with  those  who 
amuse  themselves  at  the  expense  of  other  peo- 
ple, they  were  entirely  unconscious  how  much 
pain  and  distress  they  occasioned  to  the  suffer- 
ers. They  held  a  short  consultation  on  the 
proposal  which  Malleville  had  offered,  and  then 
sent  back  word  to  Wallace,  that  they  were 
willing  to  let  Malleville  get  in,  but  not  Mary 
Bell.  Malleville,  accordingly,  returned  with 
the  flag  of  truce,  and  delivered  it  back  to  Wal- 
lace with  Caroline's  reply. 

"Well,"  said  Wallace.  "Then  you  may  go 
and  get  in,  Malleville,  or  you  may  stay  with  us, 
whichever  you  please." 

"  Stay  with  us,  Malleville,"  said  Mary  Bell. 

"Well,"  said  Malleville,  "I  will." 
L 


162  Mary   Bell. 


The  negociations  broken  up.  Consultation. 

So  Wallace  put  his  handkerchief  back  into 
his  pocket,  and  then  took  Malleville  by  the 
hand  and  walked  along  with  her  leisurely,  by 
the  side  of  Mary  Bell.  He  did  this  to  indicate 
to  the  party  in  the  wagon,  that  he  concluded 
not  to  accept  their  offer  to  admit  Malleville  into 
the  wagon  alone. 

"  Well,"  said  Wallace,  after  going  on  in  this 
manner  a  few  minutes  longer,  "  I  think  that  we 
have  followed  them  long  enough ;  and  now  if 
they  do  not  stop  before  they  pass  that  next  bend 
in  the  road,  I  shall  then  turn  round  and  walk 
the  other  way. 

"Well,"  said  Mary  Bell,  "I  am  willing. 
Only,"  continued  she,  after  a  short  pause,  "  they 
will  stop  pretty  soon  when  they  find  that  we 
are  not  coming,  and  wonder  what  has  become 
of  us." 

"  Yes,"  said  Wallace. 

"And  after  they  have  waited  some  time," 
said  Mary  Bell,  "  and  we  don't  come,  they  will 
be  very  much  frightened." 

"  Yes,"  said  Wallace.    "  They  deserve  to  be." 

"  And  they  won't  know  what  to  do,"  said 
Mary  Bell.  "  They  won't  dare  to  go  back 
without  us,  and  leave  us  here  ten  miles  from 
home.     What  will  they  do  ?" 


The  Wagon  Ride.  163 

Wallace  and  Mary  Bell  give  up  the  pursuit. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Wallace.  "  They  must 
contrive  a  way  themselves  to  get  out  of  their 
own  perplexities.  It  is  as  much  as  we  can  do 
to  get  out  of  ours.  I  don't  think  it  is  worth 
while  for  three  persons  on  foot,  who  have  been 
deserted  ten  miles  from  home,  to  trouble  them- 
selves much  about  how  those  who  deserted 
them,  and  who  have  a  wagon  and  a  good  pair 
of  horses,  are  to  get  home." 

By  this  time  the  wagon  began  to  disappear 
around  a  turn  in  the  road,  at  a  little  distance 
from  the  place  where  Wallace  and  his  party 
were  walking.  As  soon  as  it  had-  fairly  gone 
out  of  view,  Wallace  immediately  turned  round, 
with  Mary  Bell  and  Malleville,  and  began  to 
walk  the  other  way. 

Mary  Bell  began  to  feel  very  seriously  trou- 
bled and  distressed.  She  knew  very  well  that 
the  responsibility  and  the  duty  of  extricating 
them  all  from  the  unpleasant  situation  in  which 
they  were  placed,  devolved  upon  Wallace,  and 
consequently,  that  it  was  very  reasonable  that 
his  judgment  should  be  allowed  to  determine 
what  was  to  be  done.  She  was,  however,  ex- 
tremely unwilling  to  give  up  yet  all  hope  of 
getting  back  into  the  wagon.  She  thought,  too, 
that  Parker  and  Caroline  would  certainly  stop 


164  Mary  Bell. 


Mary  Bell's  request  refused. 


for  them  very  soon.  So  she  ventured  timidly 
to  ask  Wallace  if  he  was  not  willing  to  go  on  a 
little  farther. 

"  Why,  Mary  Bell,"  replied  Wallace,  "  I  am 
extremely  unwilling  to  refuse  any  thing  you  ask 
of  me ;  but  I  think  we  have  followed  them  long 
enough.  Besides,"  he  continued,  after  pausing 
a  moment,  "  I  think,  on  the  whole,  it  is  actually 
better  for  you  that  I  should  act  contrary  to 
your  wishes  in  such  a  case  as  this ;  for  then 
you  do  not  incur  any  part  of  the  responsibility. 
You  can  tell  your  mother  when  you  get  home, 
that  you  went  on  following  the  wagon  as  long 
as  I  was  willing  to  go ;  and  that  you  wished  to 
go  on  longer,  but  that  I  would  not  consent. 
And  so,  if  there  is  any  blame,  it  will  come 
wholly  upon  me." 

Mary  Bell,  finding  that  she  could  do  no  more, 
resigned  herself  to  her  fate,  which  was  to  be 
wholly  dependent  upon  Wallace's  ingenuity 
and  energy  for  the  means  of  getting  home. 
She  began  to  find,  in  fact,  that  it  was  very 
pleasant  to  be  in  such  a  situation,  now  that  her 
mind  was  relieved  from  all  sense  of  responsibil- 
ity in  respect  to  it.  So  she  walked  along  with 
a  very  light  and  happy  heart,  not  knowing,  and 
not  caring  much  what  Wallace  was  going  to  do. 


Getting   Home.  165 

Caroline.  The  party  in  the  wagon. 


Chapter   IX. 
Getting   Home. 

In  justice  to  Caroline,  it  must  be  admitted 
that,  in  inducing  Parker  to  drive  on  as  she  had 
done,  thus  compelling  Wallace  and  Mary  Bell 
to  walk  behind  for  so  great  a  distance,  she  was 
wholly  unaware  of  the  degree  of  pain  which 
she  was  occasioning  them.  The  running  away 
from  them  was,  of  course,  quite  amusing  to  her- 
self, and  to  all  who  were  comfortably  seated 
with  her  in  the  wagon,  and  they  did  not  con- 
sider how  much  solicitude  and  mortification  it 
caused  to  those  who  were  the  sufferers  by  it. 
There  are  a  great  many  circumstances  which 
combine  to  make  such  an  affair  seem  very  dif- 
ferent to  the  two  parties  that  are  concerned  in 
it,  and  to  prevent  the  one  from  understanding 
how  it  really  affects  the  other. 

There  was,  for  example,  in  this  case,  a  kind 
of  suspense  and  solicitude,  weighing  all  the  time 
upon  the  minds  of  Wallace  and  Mary  Bell, 
which  Caroline,  since  she  did  not  share  it,  did 
not  consider.     She  herself  had  power  to  put  an 


166  Mary  Bell. 


Their  idea  of  the  affair.  Caroline's  intention. 

end  to  the  affair  at  any  time.  She  was,  in  fact, 
almost  every  minute  intending  to  stop  the  wagon 
the  next  minute ;  and  although  she  did  not  thus 
stop,  yet  the  thought  that  it  was  in  her  power 
to  do  so,  gave  a  sort  of  composure  to  her  mind, 
which  was  in  strong  contrast  with  the  uncer- 
tainty, and  the  consequent  solicitude  and  anx- 
iety, which  Mary  Bell  suffered,  who  was  wholly 
in  the  dark  in  respect  to  the  termination  of  the 
difficulty,  and  could  not  tell  at  all  when  her 
troubles  would  end. 

Then,  besides,  the  way  seemed  very  much 
shorter  to  Caroline  and  her  party,  who  were 
riding  comfortably  in  their  wagon,  than  it  did 
to  Wallace,  Mary  Bell,  and  Malleville,  who 
walked  wearily  behind,  and  whose  bodily  fa- 
tigue was  increased  by  the  extreme  mental  un- 
easiness produced  by  their  mortification  and 
chagrin.  If  Caroline  had  had  any  distinct  idea 
of  the  degree  of  pain  which  she  occasioned,  or 
even  of  the  duration  of  time  for  which  she  con- 
tinued it,  she  would  have  stopped  long  before 
she  actually  did  stop.  The  very  air  of  calm- 
ness and  composure  which  Wallace  and  Mary 
Bell  very  properly  assumed,  helped  to  deceive 
Caroline,  by  concealing,  as  it  did,  the  pain  which 
they  were  really  suffering.     And  thus  it  hap- 


Getting  Home.  167 

Caroline  stops  the  wagon.  Her  perplexity. 

pened  that  she  went  on  until  Wallace's  patience 
was  exhausted,  and  he  refused  to  follow  her  any 
farther. 

It  happened  that  Caroline's  persistence  in  go- 
ing on,  came  to  an  end  very  nearly  at  the  same 
time  that  Wallace's  patience  in  following  was 
exhausted.  Accordingly,  very  soon  after  the 
wagon  had  turned  at  the  bend  in  the  road, 
where  it  passed  out  of  sight  from  the  place 
where  Wallace  and  his  party  were  walking, 
Caroline  asked  Parker  to  stop  and  wait  till  they 
came  in  sight  again. 

"  And,  in  fact,"  she  continued,  "  we  may  as 
well  stop  and  let  them  get  in  now.  We  will 
not  make  them  walk  too  far." 

So  Parker  stopped  the  wagon.  Caroline  and 
the  party  waited  in  it  a  few  minutes,  talking 
together  at  their  ease,  and  looking  for  Wallace 
and  the  two  girls  to  appear.  They  all  sat  with 
their  heads  turned  back,  watching  for  some 
time  in  vain,  when  Parker  said,  at  length, 

"  Why  don't  they  come  ?" 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Caroline.  "Perhaps 
they  have  got  tired,  and  are  sitting  down  to 
rest.     They  will  come  pretty  soon." 

So  they  waited  in  the  wagon  some  time 
longer,  but  nothing  appeared. 


168  Mary   Bell. 


They  wait  for  Wallace  and  Mary  Bell. 


"Jump  down,  Parker,"  said  Caroline,  and 
run  back  to  the  turn  of  the  road,  and  see  what 
has  become  of  them." 

Parker  did  so.  When  he  reached  the  turn 
of  the  road,  he  stood  there  a  minute  or  two 
looking  earnestly  along  the  road  beyond,  and 
then  turned  and  came  slowly  back,  saying,  as 
he  approached  the  wagon, 

"  I  cannot  see  any  thing  of  them." 

"  They  have  gone  to  hide  somewhere  in  the 
bushes,"  said  Caroline,  "  to  teaze  us  and  frighten 
us.  But  they  will  find  they  are  mistaken.  We 
will  wait  here  a  little  while,  and  then  if  they 
don't  come,  we  will  go  home  without  them." 

So  Caroline  and  her  party  waited  ten  min- 
utes, but  Wallace  did  not  come. 

"  How  provoking  it  is !"  said  Caroline.  "  It 
is  four  o'clock,  and  time  that  we  were  on  our 
way  home.  I  have  a  great  mind  to  go  on,  and 
leave  them  altogether." 

"  Then  how  could  they  get  home  ?"  asked 
Parker. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Caroline,  "  and  I  don't 
care.  They  have  no  business  to  keep  us  wait- 
ing so  long.  Suppose  you  go  back  and  call  for 
them,"  she  added,  after  a  moment's  pause. 
"  Perhaps  they  will  hear  you,  and  answer." 


Getting  Home.  169 

Search  for  the  missing  party.  Anxiety. 

"Let  us  turn  the  wagon  round  and  ride 
back,"  said  Parker. 

"  Very  well,"  replied  Caroline,  "  that  will  be 
better." 

So  Parker  drove  on  a  short  distance  until 
he  came  to  a  broad  place  where  he  could  turn 
the  wagon.  He  then  drove  back  slowly  along 
the  road,  all  the  party  looking  intently  and 
eagerly  into  the  forests  on  either  hand,  and 
calling  out,  sometimes  one,  and  sometimes  the 
other, 

WAL LACE  !     •  WAL LACE  ! 

And  then  again, 

Ma— ry  Bell  !     Ma— ry  Bell  ! 

The  sounds  of  their  voices  were  echoed  back 
from  the  mountain  sides,  but  there  was  no 
other  responding. 

They  now  began  to  be,  in  their  turn,  quite 
seriously  troubled.  It  was  getting  late,  and  it 
was  obviously  imprudent  to  remain  there  much 
longer,  as  they  had  now  but  little  more  than 
the  necessary  time  to  get  home  before  dark. 
But  then,  on  the  other  hand,  the  idea  of  going 
away  and  leaving  Wallace  and  Mary  Bell,  and 
especially  such  a  child  as  Malleville,  in  so  lonely 
a  place,  and  so  far  from  home — ten  miles  at 
least,   measured    on    any    practicable   road — 


170  Mary  Bell. 


Caroline  goes  on  to  find  Beechnut.  Waflace  uid  Mary  Bell. 

seemed  wholly  out  of  the  question.  They  even 
thought  it  possible  that  the  missing  party  might 
have  strayed  away  into  some  bye-road,  and  so 
got  lost  in  the  woods.  Thus,  they  began  to  be 
very  seriously  anxious  and  concerned,  and  were 
utterly  at  a  loss  to  know  what  to  do.  They 
finally  concluded  that  they  must  not  remain 
any  longer  where  they  were,  and  Caroline  pro- 
posed that  they  should  drive  on  homeward  as 
fast  as  possible  in  hopes  of  overtaking  the  other 
wagon,  so  as  to  tell  the  story  to  Beechnut,  and 
procure  his  aid ;  for  it  was  to  Beechnut's  judg- 
ment and  sagacity  that  the  ultimate  appeal  was 
made  in  all  desperate  emergencies.  The  par- 
ties in  the  wagon  all  approved  of  this  plan,  and 
so  Parker,  turning  his  horses'  heads  in  the 
direction  of  home,  drove  forward  as  fast  as 
possible. 

In  the  mean  time,  Wallace  and  Mary  Bell, 
accompanied  all  the  time  by  Malleville,  walked 
at  their  ease  along  the  road  down  the  river.  It 
was  a  very  pleasant  afternoon,  and  the  road 
soon  leaving  the  woods,  led  them  along  the  bank 
of  the  stream,  where  they  had  upon  one  side 
a  beautiful  view  of  the  water,  while  upon  the 
other  there  was  a  green  field,  bounded  at  a  little 
distance  by  the  margin  of  a  grove.     The  place 


Getting  Home.  171 

Their  pleasant  walk  along  the  bank  of  the  river. 

was  very  beautiful,  though  very  wild  and  soli- 
tary, and  Mary  Bell  and  Malleville,  having  now 
giving  up  all  thoughts  of  rejoining  the  party  in 
the  wagon,  and  having  full  confidence  that  Wal- 
lace would  contrive  some  safe  way  or  other  for 
getting  them  home,  enjoyed  their  walk  very 
highly,  talking  with  each  other  and  with  Wal- 
lace as  they  rambled  along.  Malleville  some- 
times stopped  to  watch  the  fishes,  swimming  in 
the  water :  she  could  see  them  very  distinctly 
as  she  looked  down  from  the  top  of  the  bank 
into  the  clear  stream,  which  was  rendered 
doubly  transparent  now  by  the  brilliant  rays  of 
the  autumnal  sun  reflected  from  the  yellow 
sands  at  the  bottom.  Sometimes  she  gathered 
new  flowers  to  add  to  her  bouquet ;  and  once 
she  went  down  the  bank  to  the  margin  of  the 
water  to  get  a  round  smooth  stone  which  she 
saw  there,  and  which  she  thought  would  make 
an  excellent  "  warming-stone."  What  Malle- 
ville meant  by  a  warming-stone,  was  a  sort  of 
round  smooth  stone,  which  she  was  accustomed 
to  have  in  the  winter  to  heat  before  the  fire, 
and  carry,  wrapped  in  a  flannel,  in  her  lap,  to 
keep  her  hands  warm  when  she  went  to  take  a 
sleigh-ride. 

The  river  was  not  very  wide,  but  the  water 


172  Mary    Bell. 

The  farm-houses.  Wallace's  plan.  The  boat  and  boat-house. 

was  pretty  deep,  though  it  flowed,  in  this  part 
of  its  course,  in  a  smooth  and  tranquil  current. 
There  were  distant  farm-houses  to  be  seen 
among  the  hills  across  the  river,  some  of  which 
Mary  Bell  soon  began  to  recognize  as  houses 
situated  not  far  from  the  place  where  Mrs. 
Henry  lived.  She  told  Wallace  and  Malleville 
that  they  were  getting  nearly  opposite  Mrs. 
Henry's.  If  they  were  only  upon  the  other 
side  of  the  river,  she  said,  they  could  go  di- 
rectly home,  and  be  there  in  a  quarter  of  an 
hour :  but  she  did  not  see,  she  added,  how  they 
were  going  to  get  across  the  stream. 

"  Oh,  we  shall  have  no  difficulty  in  getting 
across,"  said  Wallace.  "I  have  got  the  plan 
all  formed.  I  am  going  to  take  you  over  in  a 
boat." 

"  In  a  boat  ?"  asked  Mary  Bell.  "  How  are 
you  going  to  get  a  boat  ?" 

"  I  am  going  to  take  ours,"  said  Wallace. 

He  meant  Mrs.  Henry's.  There  was  a  brook 
which  flowed  into  the  river  near  Mrs.  Henry's 
house,  where  Phonny  and  Malleville  lived,  and 
the  mouth  of  this  brook  formed  a  little  harbor, 
where  there  was  a  boat-house  and  a  boat. 
There  was  a  very  pleasant  beach  along  the 
river,  near  this  place,  the  same  that  Phonny 


Getting  Home.  173 

The  May-stone.  Wallace  proposes  to  swim  across  the  river. 

and  Malleville  built  a  fire  upon,  when  they 
were  making  maple  sugar,  as  described  in  the 
volume  of  Franconia  stories,  entitled  Malleville. 
Between  the  beach,  upon  the  shore  of  the  river, 
and  the  brook,  there  was  a  point  of  land  where 
there  was  a  great  flat  stone,  called  the  May- 
stone.  The  May-stone  was  a  famous  landing- 
place  for  the  boat,  and  the  boat  itself  was  often 
left  there,  tied  to  a  strong  post  which  Beechnut 
had  set  up  upon  the  shore  for  this  very  pur- 
pose. It  was  this  boat  which  Wallace  refer- 
red to. 

"  But  our  boat  is  upon  the  other  side  of  the 
river,"  said  Malleville. 

"  Yes,"  said  Wallace,  "  and  I  am  going  across 
to  get  it." 

"  But  how  are  you  going  to  get  across  ?" 
asked  Mary  Bell. 

"  I  am  going  to  swim  across,"  replied  Wallace. 

"  To  swim !"  repeated  Mary  Bell,  somewhat 
alarmed. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Wallace.  "  I  can  swim  across 
very  easily,  by  taking  off  my  jacket  and  my 
shoes.  I  am  going  to  find  a  good  seat  here 
somewhere  for  you  and  Malleville,  and  then  I 
am  going  down  the  bank  of  the  river  a  little 
way,  until  I  find  a  slab,  or  a  piece  of  drift  wood 


174  Mary    Bell. 


His  plan.  They  come  in  sight  of  Mrs.  Henry's. 

of  some  kind  or  other,  to  take  over  with  me. 
Then  I  shall  take  off  my  shoes,  my  cap,  and  my 
jacket,  and  tie  them  up  in  a  bundle,  and  fasten 
them  upon  the  slab,  up  above  the  water.  Then 
I  shall  swim  over  the  river,  pushing  the  slab  be- 
fore me.  When  I  land,  I  shall  put  on  my  jacket, 
my  cap,  and  my  shoes  again,  and  walk  up  to  the 
house.  There  I  shall  take  off  my  wet  clothes, 
and  put  on  dry  ones.  Then  I  shall  come  back 
to  the  shore,  and  take  the  boat  and  come  over 
here.  Then  you  and  Malleville  can  get  in,  and 
we  can  all  go  across  the  river  together." 

"  That  is  a  good  plan,"  said  Malleville. 

Mary  Bell  said  nothing.  She  was,  in  fact,  a 
little  afraid  to  have  Wallace  attempt  to  swim 
across  so  broad  a  river. 

In  a  few  minutes  after  this,  the  party  came 
to  a  rocky  point  upon  the  bank,  and  when  they 
got  to  the  lower  side  of  it,  they  found  that  Mrs. 
Henry's  house,  and  the  mouth  of  the  brook,  and 
the  May-stone  itself,  were  all  in  view. 

"  There's  the  boat,"  said  Malleville,  clapping 
her  hands. 

They  all  looked  and  saw  that  the  boat  was 
there,  upon  the  farther  side  of  the  May-stone, 
being  fastened,  apparently,  by  the  painter  to 
the  post  upon  the  shore. 


Getting  Home.  175 

Wallace  delivers  his  valuables  to  Mary  Bell. 

The  rope  by  which  a  boat  is  tied  is  called  the 
painter. 

"Now  you  must  sit  down  upon  the  rocks 
here,"  said  Wallace  to  Mary  Bell  and  Malle- 
yille,  "  while  I  go  down  the  bank  a  little  way 
to  find  my  slab.  Presently  you  will  see  me 
swimming  out  from  the  shore,  pushing  the  slab 
before  me." 

"  But  you  must  keep  my  watch,  for  me,  Mary 
Bell,"  he  continued.  "  It  would  spoil  my  watch 
to  get  it  wet." 

So  he  took  his  watch  out  of  his  pocket,  taking 
the  guard  over  his  head  at  the  same  time.  It 
was  a  small  gold  watch,  and  very  pretty.  Wal- 
lace placed  the  guard  around  Mary  Bell's  neck, 
and  put  the  watch  into  her  hands ;  and  she, 
after  looking  at  it  attentively  a  moment,  placed 
it  securely  within  her  belt-ribbon.  She  had 
never  had  a  gold  watch  in  her  hands  before, 
and  was  very  much  pleased  to  be  entrusted 
with  such  a  charge.  Wallace  then  took  out 
his  pencil-case,  and  gave'her  that  also. 

Malleville  then  wished  to  have  something  en- 
trusted to  her  keeping,  so  Wallace  gave  her  his 
pocket-book,  and  also  some  silver  money  and 
some  keys.     The  money  and  the  keys  Malle- 


176  Mary   Bell. 


John  Thomas  and  Carlo.  Mary  Bell's  proposal. 

ville  put  into  her  pocket,  but  the  pocket-book 
she  held  in  her  hand. 

Just  as  these  arrangements  were  completed, 
Mary  Bell  seemed  to  observe  something  which 
attracted  her  attention,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
river. 

"  Who  is  that  boy  standing  there  ?"  she  asked 
at  length,  after  a  little  pause. — "  He  has  got  a 
dog,  too. — The  dog  looks  like  Carlo. — I  believe 
it  is  Carlo :  and  if  it  is,  the  boy  must  be  John 
Thomas.  He  is  one  of  our  neighbor's  boys,  and 
Carlo  goes  off  with  him  sometimes  to  play." 

"  Then  he  can  bring  the  boat  over  for  us," 
said  Wallace. 

"  Oh  no,"  said  Mary  Bell,  "  he  is  not  large 
enough.  He  is  a  very  small  boy,  no  bigger 
than  Malleville.  It  would  not  be  safe  to  trust 
him  in  the  boat." 

Then  after  a  moment's  hesitation,  she  added, 
"  I  should  rather  trust  Carlo.  Carlo  might  per- 
haps bring  the  boat  over." 

Wallace  laughed  outright  at  this  idea.  He 
supposed,  in  fact,  that  Mary  Bell  was  in  joke. 

"  If  Carlo  only  knew  that  I  was  over  here," 
said  Mary  Bell,  "  and  that  I  wanted  the  boat,  to 
get  home,  and  if  Thomas  would  put  the  end  of 
the  rope  in  his  mouth,  he  would  swim  across 


Getting  Home.  177 

('ailing  to  John  Thomas.  Carlo's  disposition. 

and  pull  the  boat  after  him.  He  is  very 
strong." 

Mary  Bell  then  standing  up  upon  the  rocks, 
and  perceiving  that  the  boy  on  the  other  side 
had  observed  them,  and  was  looking  at  them, 
called  out  with  a  loud  voice. 

John  Thom — as! 

There  came  back  in  reply  a  prolonged  and 
distant  "  Hal — loo  !" 

"  Is  that  you  ?"  called  Mary  Bell. 

The  voice  answered  "  Yes,"  in  a  tone  loud 
though  distant,  and  long  drawn  out. 

"Shall  I  try  to  make  Carlo  come  over?" 
said  Mary  Bell  to  Wallace. 

"Yes,"  replied  Wallace.  "You  may  try, 
but  I  do  not  think  you  can  do  it." 

Mary  Bell  then  began  to  call  Carlo  by  name 
many  times,  in  the  tone  and  manner  which  she 
was  accustomed  to  use  to  him  whenever  she 
wished  him  to  come, — though  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  such  callings  were  usually  in  vain. 
In  this  ease,  however,  her  voice  seemed  to  have 
a  different  effect.  Carlo  had,  in  fact,  a  great 
contempt  for  play  of  every  kind,  and  he  knew 
very  well  when  children  called  him  merely  out 
of  idle  caprice.  When,  on  the  other  hand,  any 
real  emergency  occurred,  and  there  was  any 
M 


178  Mary    Bell. 


His  demeanor  on  this  occasion.  His  excitemeni 

actual  service  to  be  rendered,  he  felt,  at  once, 
the  dignity  of  the  occasion,  and  all  his  ener- 
gies were  immediately  aroused.  In  this  case, 
accordingly,  as  soon  as  he  heard  Mary  Bell's 
/oice,  and  perceived  that  she  was  separated 
from  him  by  the  broad  surface  of  the  river,  he 
supposed  that  it  was  not  a  case  of  mere  play. 
He  looked  wildly  across  the  water,  barked,  ran 
this  way  and  that  along  the  edge  of  the  May- 
stone,  stopped  suddenly  and  looked  at  Mary 
Bell  again,  and  then  seemed  on  the  point  of 
leaping  into  the  water. 

Mary  Bell  then,  called  out  again  to  John 
Thomas, 

"  Untie  the  boat,  John,  and  give  Carlo  the 
end  of  the  rope  in  his  mouth." 

John  Thomas  obeyed,  calling  to  Carlo  con- 
tinually while  he  did  so,  in  order  to  keep  him 
back  from  the  water  until  the  rope  was  ready. 
Carlo  was  very  much  excited  and  very  much 
perplexed.  He  ran  first  to  John  Thomas  and 
the  boat,  and  then  back  to  the  edge  of  the 
May-stone  to  take  a  look  at  Mary  Bell,  darting 
continually  from  one  place  to  the  other,  and 
barking  all  the  time.  At  length,  John  Thomas 
got  the  boat  untied.  He  brought  it  around  to 
the  river  *ide  of  the  Mav-stone.      He  then  of- 


Getting  Home. 


179 


He  takes  the  painter  and  swims  across  the  river. 

fered  the  end  of  the  rope  to  Carlo,  saying, 
"  Seize  it,  Carlo !"  pointing,  at  the  same  time,  to 
the  water.  Carlo  seemed  at  once  to  understand. 
He  seized  the  end  of  the  rope  in  his  mouth 
and  leaped  into  the  river.  Mary  Bell  at  the 
same  instant  began  to  encourage  him  by  calling 
to  him  from  the  opposite  shore,  while  Malleville 
clapped  her  hands  with  delight,  saying,  "  He  is 
coming  with  the  boat !  He  is  coming !  He  is 
coming!" 


BRIXOING     THE     BOAT. 


As  Carlo  came  on,  aiming,  as  he  did,  directly 


180  Mary  Bell. 

He  lands.  He  sprinkles  Mary  Bell. 

across  the  river,  the  current  began  to  carry 
him  down  the  stream.  Wallace  and  his  party 
immediately  began  to  move  down  too,  so  as  to 
keep  opposite  to  him  all  the  time,  in  order  to 
encourage  and  cheer  him,  and  also  to  prevent 
his  wasting  his  strength  by  attempting  to  swim 
up  against  the  stream.  He  came  on  very 
slowly,  but  in  due  time  he  reached  the  shore. 
Wallace  stood  ready  at  the  margin  of  the 
water  to  take  the  rope.  Carlo  delivered  the 
rope  to  him  as  soon  as  he  reached  the  land,  and 
then  scrambling  up  upon  the  beach  he  ran  to 
Mary  Bell,  and  standing  directly  before  her  he 
stopped  and  shook  himself  with  such  prodigious 
energy  that  he  sprinkled  her  all  over. 

"Why,  Carlo!"  exclaimed  Mary  Bell,  run- 
ning back.  "  What  a  dog  you  are !  Who 
would  think  that  you  would  have  sense  enough 
to  bring  a  boat  over  the  river,  and  not  have 
too  much  sense  to  sprinkle  your  drippings  all 
over  me." 

The  rest  of  the  story  is,  of  course,  soon  told. 
The  party  crossed  the  river  readily  in  the  boat, 
with  Carlo  in  the  bow.  When  they  landed, 
Mary  Bell  asked  John  Thomas  how  he  came  to 
be  there.  He  said  that  he  had  come  to  get  a 
ride  home  with  her  when  the  party  should  have 


Getting  Home.  181 

Wallace  and  Mary  Bell  get  safe  home.  Caroline. 

returned  from  their  ride  in  the  wagons.  He 
did  not  expect,  he  said,  that  she  would  come 
home  in  a  boat  across  the  river.  He,  of  course, 
lost  his  expected  ride,  for  Mary  Bell  walked 
home.  Wallace  went  with  her,  and  she  gave 
him  back  his  watch  and  pencil-case  AtJthe 
door. 

That  evening,  just  after  sunset,  Malleville 
was  swinging  upon  the  front-gate  at  Mrs.  Hen- 
ry's house,  waiting  for  the  wagons  to  come. 
We  left  Caroline,  it  will  be  recollected,  very 
much  perplexed  to  know  what  to  do,  and  de- 
termined to  ride  on  as  fast  as  possible  to  over- 
take Beechnut  in  order  to  refer  the  difficulty  to 
him.  Beechnut  was,  however,  so  far  in  ad- 
vance that  it  was  very  hard  to  overtake  him. 
Parker  drove  as  fast  as  he  could,  but  he 
reached  the  bridge,  which  was  about  half-way 
home,  before  he  saw  any  thing  of  the  forward 
wagon.  At  length,  it  came  into  view  at  some 
distance  before  them.  As  soon  as  Parker  was 
near  enough  to  be  heard,  he  called  out  to 
Beechnut  to  stop,  and  Caroline  then,  without 
waiting  to  get  any  nearer,  called  out  too,  to  tell 
him  that  they  had  lost  some  of  their  party. 

"  How  did  you  lose  them  ?"  asked  Beechnut. 

"  Why  they  strayed  away  from  us,"  replied 


182  Mary  Bell. 


Her  conversation  with  Beechnut.  Beechnut  goes  on. 

Caroline,  "  And  did  not  come  back.  We  waited 
until  we  thought  it  was  not  worth  while  to  wait 
any  longer,  and  then  we  came  along." 

"How  came  they  to  stray  away?"  asked 
Beechnut. 

"  Why,  to  tell  the  truth,"  said  Caroline,  "  we 
began  it  by  running  away  from  them." 

"  O,  aye !"  said  Beechnut,  "  that  was  the  case, 
was  it" 

"  What  had  we  better  do  ?"  asked  Caroline. 

"  Who  are  they  ?"  asked  Beechnut. 

The  heads  were  so  numerous  in  the  two 
wagons,  that  Beechnut  could  not  tell  who  were 
missing. 

"Why,  there  was  Wallace,"  said  Caroline, 
"  and—" 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Wallace  was  one,  was  he  ?"  said 
Beechnut. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Caroline.  . 

"Oh,  very  well,  then,"  said  Beechnut,  "we 
have  nothing  more  to  do  about  it.  We  will 
go  on." 

"  Why,  what  do  you  mean  by  that  ?"  asked 
Caroline. 

"  Why  I  mean,"  said  Beechnut,  "  that  there 
is  no  possible  situation  in  which  you  can  place 
Mr.  Wallace,  but  that  he  will  lake  much  better 


Getting    Hume.  183 

Caroline's  anxiety.  Her  surprise  at  seeing  Malleville. 

care  of  himself,  than  you  and  I  can  take  for 
him." 

So  saying,  Beechnut  started  his  horses  and 
drove  on. 

When  the  wagons  arrived  near  to  Mrs.  Hen- 
ry's house,  Beechnut  turned  off  into  another 
road,  to  take  those  who  were  in  his  wagon  to 
their  respective  homes.  The  other  wagon  was 
to  go  directly  by  Mrs.  Henry's.  Caroline 
felt  very  anxious  and  unhappy,  though  she 
could  not  help  hoping  to  hear  something  of 
her  missing  friends,  when  she  should  get  to  the 
house. 

Malleville  saw  them  coming.  "Now,"  said 
she  to  herself,  "  I  mean  to  pay  them  for  hoping 
that  we  were  having  a  pleasant  walk." 

The  moment,  therefore,  that  the  wagon  came 
within  hearing,  and  before,  in  fact,  Caroline 
could  see  who  it  was  that  was  swinging  on  the 
gate,  Malleville  called  out,  mimicking  Caroline's 
manner, 

"  I  hope,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  that  you  are 
having  a  very  pleasant  ride." 

"Why,  Malleville,"  exclaimed  Caroline. 
"How  did  you  get  home?  And  have  Wal- 
lace and  Mary  Bell  got  home  too?" 

"Yes,"  said  Malleville,  "long  ago." 


184  Mary   Bell. 


Caroline's  note  to  Mary  Bell.  Wallace's  opinion  of  it. 

•  "lam  so  glad,"  said  Caroline  ;  "  but  how  did 
you  get  home  ?" 

"  Guess/'  said  Malleville.  She  said  this,  how- 
ever, in  a  tone  which  plainly  indicated  that  she 
did  not  intend  to  tell.     So  Parker  drove  on. 

Early  the  next  morning,  a  boy  came  to  Mrs. 
Bell's  with  a  note  for  Mary.  She  opened  it 
and  found  it  was  from  Caroline.  It  was  as 
follows : — 

"  My  dear  Mary  Bell, — 

"  I  am  so  ashamed  of  myself  for  running  away  from  you 
yesterday,  that  I  do  not  know  what  to  say  or  do.  It  was  so 
ungrateful,  when  "Wallace  took  so  much  pains  to  plan  the  ex- 
cursion for  us,  and  to  get  the  wagons  and  the  horses.  And 
then,  too,  to  take  advantage  of  his  going  away  to  get  some 
water  for  me.  I  can  not  write  a  note  to  him,  and  lam 
ashamed  to  speak  to  him  about  it,  but  I  wish  you  would  tell 
him  how  badly  I  feel. 

"  Your  true  friend, 

"Caroline  Keep." 

Mary  Bell  sent  the  note  itself  to  Wallace. 
When  Wallace  had  read  it,  he  put  it  carefully 
into  his  pocket-book,  and  said, 

"  Well,  Caroline  is  a  noble  girl  after  all." 


The  Drawing  School.  185 

flaying  keep  school.  Malleville's  punishment. 


Chapter   X. 
The   Dr  a  win  g-  S  ch  o  ol. 

At  one  time  Mary  Bell  had  a  little  drawing- 
school.  There  were  six  scholars  in  her  class, 
and  they  met  once  a  week  in  Mary  Bell's 
chamber.  The  circumstances  which  led  to  the 
establishment  of  this  class,  were  these  : 

One  day  when  Beechnut  was  at  work  in  Mrs. 
Henry's  garden,  Phonny  and  Malleville  were 
playing  keep  school  in  a  corner  of  the  yard. 
After  continuing  their  play  for  some  time,  they 
began  to  get  tired  of  it,  and  accordingly  they 
proposed  to  go  out  into  the  garden  and  see 
what  Beechnut  was  doing. 

Phonny  had  been  the  teacher  in  the  school, 
and  Malleville  the  scholar.  They  got  tired  of 
their  play  partly  because  Phonny  compelled 
Malleville  to  sit  rather  too  long,  by  herself, 
upon  a  certain  stone  step  which  was  near  at 
hand,  as  a  punishment  for  some  imaginary  of- 
fense against  the  rules  of  his  school.  He  for- 
got, as  children  very  often  do  in  such  cases, 
that  though  it  was  very  good  amusement  for 


186  Mary   Bell. 


Beechnut  in  the  garden.  Malleville's  drawing. 

him  to  send  Malleville  there,  it  was  not  very- 
amusing  for  her  to  stay  there  so  long.  Malle- 
ville became  tired  after  a  little  time,  and  as 
Phonny  did  not  call  her  back,  she  rose  from  her 
seat  at  length,  of  her  own  accord,  and  walked 
away,  saying  that  she  did  not  wish  to  play 
school  any  more.  She  said  that  she  was  going 
out  into  the  garden  to  see  Beechnut.  So  they 
both  went  out  into  the  garden  together.  Mal- 
leville happened  to  have  her  slate  under  her 
arm.     She  had  been  using  it  in  playing  school. 

Beechnut  was  at  work  in  the  garden  putting 
a  little  walk  in  order,  by  smoothing  the  surface 
of  it,  trimming  the  edges,  and  raking  away  the 
grass  and  weeds.  The  walk  led  down  toward 
a  little  brook  which  flowed  through  the  back 
part  of  the  garden.  There  was  a  smooth  stone 
among  the  shrubbery  near  that  part  of  the 
path  where  Beechnut  was  working,  which  the 
children  were  accustomed  to  use  as  a  seat. 
Malleville  sat  down  upon  this  stone. 

As  her  eyes  fell  upon  her  slate  she  saw  a  lit- 
tle drawing  there,  one  which  she  had  made  for 
her  drawing  lesson  in  the  school.  She  thought 
that  she  would  go  and  show  it  to  Beechnut,  and 
ask  him  if  he  did  not  think  that  it  was  pretty 
well  done. 


The  Drawing    School. 


187 


The  garden  stone. 


She  shew9  her  drawing  to  Beechnut. 


THE     OAKIiEN     STONE. 


So  she  walked  to  the  place  where  Beechnut 
was  at  work,  and  holding  the  slate  out  to  him, 
she  said, 

"  See  Beechnut !" 

Beechnut  turned  his  eyes  toward  the  draw- 
ing, going  on,  however,  all  the  time  with  his 
raking,  and  said, 

"  Yes,  I  see.     Did  you  do  that  ?" 

"Yes,"  replied  Malleville;  "in  Phonny's 
school.    I  did  it  all  myself — alone/' 

"  Tt  is  not  every  pupil  that  can  say  that  of 


188  Mary  Bell. 


Beechnut's  coDjectures  in  respect  to  the  drawing. 

the  drawings  that  she  shows,"  said  Beechnut, 
going  on  with  his  work. 

"What  do  you  think  it  is?"  asked  Malle- 
ville.  She  wished  to  obtain  from  Beechnut 
some  more  decided  expression  of  his  opinion  in 
respect  to  her  drawing. 

"  A  pair  of  tongs  ?"  said  Beechnut,  speaking 
m  the  tone  of  one  making  a  guess. 

"  No,"  said  Malleville.  And  so  saying,  she 
began  to  look  at  her  drawing  again,  to  see 
whether  it  resembled  a  pair  of  tongs.  "  No," 
she  continued,  after  thus  looking  at  it  a  mo- 
ment, "  no,  not  that.     Look  at  it  again." 

Beechnut  stopped  raking,  looked  at  the  draw- 
ing a  moment  again,  and  then  said  in  the  same 
inquiring  tone. 

"  A  tavern-sign  between  two  tall  posts  ?" 

"No,"  said  Malleville,  "not  that." 

"A  round-table  on  two  legs,  then,"  said 
Beechnut,  in  a  tone  of  satisfaction,  as  if  he 
thought  that  now  he  had  got  it. 

"No,"  replied  Malleville,  "nothing  like 
that." 

"  Then  I  can't  guess,"  said  Beechnut,  de- 
spondingly. 

"  It  is  a  man,"  said  Malleville.  "  There  is 
his  head,  and  there  are  his  legs,"  she  added, 


The  Drawing  School.  189 

Malleville's  omissions.  Beechnut  makes  a  drawing. 

pointing,  as  she  spoke  to  the  different  parts  of 
the  drawing. 

"Only  I  forgot  his  eyes,  and  nose,  and 
mouth,"  continued  Malleville,  after  a  moment's 
pause ;  and  so  saying,  she  sat  down  upon  her 
stone  again,  and  began  to  work  very  industri- 
ously to  put  in  these  features,  so  essential  to 
the  proper  representation  of  a  man. 

"I  forgot  his  face  entirely,"  said  Malle- 
ville. 

"  You  forgot  something  more  important  than 
that,"  said  Beechnut. 

"  What  ?"  inquired  Malleville. 

"  His  body,"  replied  Beechnut. 

Malleville  looked  at  her  drawing  again,  and 
found  it  true,  as  Beechnut  had  represented, 
that  the  body  was  wholly  omitted  in  her  draw- 
ing. The  legs  grew  out  directly  from  the 
head. 

"Yes,"  said  she,  "so  I  have.  Well,  now 
Beechnut,"  said  she  again,  looking  at  her  work 
a  moment  with  a  very  disconsolate  expression 
of  countenance,  "  I  wish  you  would  draw  me  a 
man,  and  then  I  can  see  how  it  ought  to  be 
done." 

Beechnut  said  that  he  would,  and  so  taking 
Malleville's  slate  and  pencil,  he  made,  in  a  few 


190  Mary  Bell. 


PhonDy  and  Malleville  wish  to  learn  to  draw. 


minutes,  a  very  simple  but  spirited  sketch  of 
two  boys,  running.  One  was  running  after  the 
other  to  get  his  cap.  The  foremost  boy,  who 
was  running  away  with  the  cap,  carried  it  upon 
the  top  of  a  long  pole  which  he  held  in  the  air. 
The  drawing  was  made  in  a  very  bold  and  free 
manner,  and  with  very  few  strokes ;  but  there 
was  so  much  spirit  and  expression  in  the  figures 
and  in  the  action,  that  Malleville  was  very 
much  amused  with  the  work,  and  ran  off  to 
show  it  to  Phonny. 

Beechnut  could  really  draw  very  well  indeed. 
He  had  learned,  as  has  already  been  stated,  in 
France,  before  he  came  across  the  ocean  to 
America. 

After  a  little  time,  Phonny  and  Malleville 
came  back  to  Beechnut  again,  bringing  the 
slate  with  them.  They  came  for  the  purpose 
of  asking  Beechnut  whether  he  would  not  teack 
them  to  draw. 

"  Oh,  no !"  said  Beechnut,  "  I  can't  do  that ; 
but  I'll  tell  you  what  I  will  do  for  you." 

"  What  ?"  asked  Phonny. 

"  I  will  show  you  how  that  boy  got  his  cap ;" 
replied  Beechnut. 

"Well!"  exclaimed  Phonny  and  Malleville 
together,  in  a  tone  of  great  satisfaction. 


The  Drawing  School.  191 

Beechnut's  second  picture.  Two  things  lacking. 

So  Beechnut  took  the  slate  and  made  another 
picture  on  the  other  side  of  it,  representing  the 
recovery  of  the  cap.  The  boy  who  was  run- 
ning away  with  it  had  tumbled  down,  and  lay 
now  extended  upon  the  ground.  The  pole  was 
of  course  down  too,  and  the  cap  had  fallen  off 
from  the  end  of  it — and  the  boy  to  whom  the 
cap  belonged,  was  in  the  act  of  picking  it  up. 
The  boy  who  was  getting  his  cap  again,  was 
laughing,  while  the  countenance  of  the  one 
who  lay  extended  upon  the  ground,  exhibited  a 
most  ludicrous  expression  of  vexation  and  dis- 
tress. 

Beechnut  gave  the  slate  to  Phonny  when  the 
picture  was  finished,  and  returned  to  his  work. 
The  picture  amused  the  children  for  some  time. 
At  length  they  put  the  slate  down  upon  the 
stone,  and  came  to  Beechnut  to  ask  him  wh) 
he  was  not  willing  to  teach  them  to  draw. 

"  Oh,  there  are  two  things  lacking,"  said 
Beechnut. 

"  What  are  they  ?"  asked  Phonny. 

"  Why,  I  have  not  time,  and  you  have  not 
patience,"  replied  Beechnut. 

Phonny  and  Malleville  both  insisted  that  they 
had  a  great  deal  of  patience,  or  at  least  that  they 
would  have,  if  he  would  teach  them  to  draw. 


192  Mary  Bell. 

Beechnut  proposes  Mary  Bell  for  drawing  teacher. 

But  Beechnut  said  that  he  could  not  undertake 
any  such  thing. 

"  But,"  said  he,  "  there  is  Mary  Bell  to  teach 
you  to  draw.  She  has  got  time.  You  must 
form  a  class  of  half  a  dozen,  and  go  to  her 
house  Saturday  afternoons." 

"  Well,"  said  Phonny.  "  Let  us  do  it,  Mal- 
leville." 

"  I  think  it  would  really  be  a  good  plan,"  con- 
tinued Beechnut,  "if  Mary  Bell  will  consent. 
And  then  I  can  do  something  myself,  perhaps, 
to  help." 

"  What  could  you  do  ?"  asked  Phonny. 

"  Why  I  will  sharpen  the  pencils ;  and  then, 
on  rainy  days,  I  will  go  around  after  the  class, 
in  the  great  wagon,  and  carry  them  to  the 
school." 

"Well!"  said  Malleville.  "And  come  and 
get  us  again  at  the  end  of  the  school  ?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Beechnut.  "  Then,  besides,"  he 
continued,  "  perhaps  I  would  draw  you  some 
patterns.  I  would  agree  to  draw  you  patterns 
for  the  tenth  lesson." 

"  Why  not  for  the  first  ?"  asked  Phonny. 

"  Oh,  I  should  rather  agree  to  draw  them  for 
the  tenth,"  said  Beechnut,  "  for  by  that  plan  1 
should  expect  not  to  have  to  draw  them  at  all." 


The  Drawing  School.  193 

Beechnut  will  aid.  Mrs.  Henry  approves  of  the  plan. 

"  Why  not  ?"  asked  Malleville. 

"  Why,  because,"  rejoined  Beechnut,  "  I 
don't  suppose  that  you  would  have  persever- 
ance enough  to  get  to  the  tenth  lesson.  I  sup- 
pose you  would  draw  two  or  three  lessons,  and 
that  that  would  be  the  end  of  it." 

Phonny  and  Malleville  were  very  earnest  in 
assuring  Beechnut  that  they  certainly  should 
have  perseverance  enough  to  draw  ten  lessons 
and  more  too ;  and  Beechnut  said  that  he  would 
agree  to  draw  a  set  of  patterns,  one  for  each  of 
the  class,  to  be  used  for  the  tenth  lesson,  if  the 
class  should  ever  get  so  far.  He  said,  besides, 
that  he  would  draw  up  some  rules  for  the  class, 
if  Mary  Bell  should  wish  it. 

"  Oh,  no  !"  said  Phonny.  "  Mary  Bell  would 
rather  make  her  own  rules." 

"  Very  well,"  replied  Beechnut.  "  Just  as 
she  pleases  about  that." 

Phonny  and  Malleville  went  immediately  in, 
and  explained  the  plan  to  Mrs.  Henry,  who  said 
that  she  had  no  objection  to  it  at  all, — but  con- 
sidered it,  on  the  other  hand,  a  very  excellent 
plan,  if  Mary  Bell  was  willing  to  have  such  a 
class.  Phonny  and  Malleville  went  that  very 
afternoon  to  ask  her.  She  laughed  at  hearing 
the  proposal  at  first,  and  said  that  she  could  not 
N 


194  Mary  Bell. 


Mary  Bell's  skill  in  drawing.  She  hesitates  about  the  class. 

be  a  teacher ;  she  knew  too  little  about  draw- 
ing herself,  she  said,  to  attempt  to  teach  any- 
other  persons. 

Mary  Bell  could,  in  fact,  draw  very  prettily. 
She  began  to  learn  a  number  of  years  before 
this  time,  at  Mary  Erskine's.  Mary  Erskine 
was  a  girl  who  lived  at  Mrs.  Bell's  when  Mary 
Bell  was  a  child,  and  who  afterward  married  a 
young  farmer,  and  lived  a  mile  or  two  from 
Mrs.  Bell's.  It  was  there  that  Mary  Bell  had 
begun  to  learn  to  draw,  and  though  she  had  had 
very  little  instruction,  she  had  continued  to 
practice  in  a  very  careful  and  attentive  manner 
ever  since,  and  had  made  great  progress.  In 
fact,  patience  and  perseverance,  directed  by 
good  taste  and  sound  judgment,  will  enable  a 
person  to  make  great  progress  in  almost  any 
attempted  attainment,  with  very  little  aid  from 
others. 

Still  Mary  Bell,  though  she  would  have  liked 
very  well  to  have  had  such  a  class  as  Beechnut 
proposed,  was  distrustful  of  her  powers,  and  she 
seemed  very  reluctant  to  undertake  the  charge, 
until  at  length  Phonny,  in  giving  an  account  of 
Beechnut's  conversation,  came  to  mention  the 
proposal  that  Beechnut  had  made,  to  write  some 
rules  for  the  guidance  of  the  class. 


The  Drawing  School.  195 

The  rules.  Beechnut  to  make  them. 

"  Well,"  said  Mary  Bell,  when  she  heard  that, 
"  perhaps  I  will  take  the  class,  if  Beechnut  will 
make  the  rules." 

"  But  I  told  him,"  replied  Phonny,  "  that  you 
would  wish  to  make  your  own  rules." 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  Mary  Bell.  "  I  would  much 
rather  that  he  should  make  them.  And  you  and 
Malleville  must  find  the  scholars." 

So  Phonny  and  Malleville  came  home  and 
told  Beechnut  that  the  plan  was  all  agreed  to, 
and  that  Mary  Bell  wished  to  have  him  make 
the  rules,  and  that  they  were  to  find  the  scholars. 

"  Very  well,"  replied  Beechnut.  "  I  will  make 
the  rules  this  evening,  and  give  them  to  you  to- 
morrow. I  will  write  them  all  down  upon  a 
piece  of  paper." 

When  Beechnut  made  this  promise,  he  fully 
intended  to  have  kept  it,  but  he  found  in  the 
evening  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  write  all 
that  he  wished  to  say,  and  so  the  next  morning 
he  told  Phonny  and  Malleville  that  he  had 
thought  of  a  better  plan,  which  was  for  them 
to  invite  Mary  Bell  to  come  and  take  tea  with 
them  that  afternoon,  and  then  for  her  to  come 
out  with  them,  after  tea,  into  the  garden,  where 
he  was  at  work,  and  he  would  explain  fully,  in 
words,  to  her,  the  plan  and  arrangements  which 


196  Mary  Bell 


Conversation  about  the  class.  Number  of  scholars. 

he  proposed  that  she  should  adopt.  He  could 
explain  every  thing,  he  said,  so  much  better  in 
words  than  he  could  in  writing. 

This  plan  appeared  very  reasonable  to  Phon- 
ny  and  Malleville,  and  it  was  accordingly 
adopted.  Mary  Bell  came  and  took  tea  at 
Mrs.  Henry's,  and  after  tea  she  went  out  with 
Phonny  and  Malleville  into  the  garden  to  find 
Beechnut.  The  following  conversation  oc- 
curred there  : 

"  In  the  first  place,"  said  Beechnut,  "  I  would 
have  only  six  in  the  class.  Six  are  as  many  as 
can  stand  together  around  you  to  see  you  draw ; 
and  it  is  very  important  that  they  should  see  you 
draw." 

"  Yes,"  said  Mary  Bell,  "  I  think  that  six  will 
be  enough." 

"  When  they  come  together  the  first  time/' 
continued  Beechnut,  "spend  half  an  hour  in 
drawing  six  patterns  for  them.  These  patterns 
must  be  some  little  landscapes  suitable  for  be- 
ginners. You  can  draw  six  in  half  an  hour, — 
such  simple  lessons  as  they  need.  You  must 
talk  to  them  a  great  deal  while  you  are  drawing, 
explaining  every  thing  that  you  do,  and  the  rea- 
sons for  it,  so  as  to  give  them  as  many  directions 
as  possible  to  guide  them  in  their  own  work. 


The  Drawing  School.  197 

Beechnut's  directions.  Paper  and  pencils.  Rules. 

"  Then/'  continued  Beechnut,  "  give  them  all 
pieces  of  paper  of  the  same  size,  and  also  pencils 
and  every  thing  else  that  they  need,  and  set 
them  up  at  the  table.  It  is  very  important  to 
get  them  seated  high  enough,  so  that  their  arms 
will  rest  properly  upon  the  table.  They  can 
not  do  any  thing  without  that. 

"  Then  I  shall  have  to  get  some  cushions  for 
the  younger  ones,"  said  Mary  Bell. 

"  Yes,"  said  Beechnut,  "  and  big  books :  or 
perhaps  you  may  find  some  low  table  in  the 
house." 

"  When  they  are  all  ready  to  begin,"  con- 
tinued Beechnut,  "  you  must  tell  them  that  they 
can  only  have  one  paper  for  each  lesson,  and, 
therefore,  they  must  be  careful  in  all  that  they 
do  upon  it ;  and  that  their  work,  when  it  is  fin- 
ished, must  belong  to  you." 

"  To  me  !"  said  Mary  Bell. 

"  Yes,  to  you,"  replied  Beechnut.  "  You 
must  claim  all  the  drawings  that  they  make,  as 
your  property.  Tell  the  scholars  that  you  are 
going  to  paste  them  into  a  big  book,  and  keep 
them  to  look  at  as  long  as  you  live." 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  Malleville,  who  was  standing 
by  all  the  time,  and  listening  to  the  conversa- 
tion ;  "  we  shall  want  our  drawings  ourselves." 


198  Mary   Bell. 


They  must  draw  in  silence.  Mary  Bell  may  speak. 

"  Well,"  said  Beechnut,  "  Mary  Bell  can  do 
as  she  pleases.  I  advise  her,  however,  to  let 
you  draw  a  picture  for  yourselves  the  last  day, 
but  to  tell  the  class  that  the  rest  of  the  drawings 
that  they  make,  are  to  be  hers.  She  can  give 
them  to  you  afterwards,  if  she  pleases ;  but  if 
you  know  that  they  are  all  to  be  at  her  disposal, 
you  will  be  a  great  deal  more  careful  in  your 
work,  and  so  make  twice  as  much  progress  in 
learning." 

"  Then,"  continued  Beechnut,  speaking  again 
to  Mary  Bell,  "  when  the  class  are  all  ready  to 
begin  their  drawing,  tell  them  that  they  are  to 
draw  one  hour,  all  in  silence,  unless  you  speak 
to  them.  In  that  case,  of  course,  they  may  an- 
swer.    Otherwise  they  must  not  speak  a  word." 

"  Must  not  they  ask  me  any  questions  ?"  said 
Mary  Bell. 

"  No,"  replied  Beechnut,  "  not  one.  Nobody 
can  learn  to  draw  until  they  can  learn  to  work 
industriously  and  patiently  by  themselves,  with- 
out having  somebody  looking  over  them  all  the 
time,  and  encouraging  them,  and  helping  them, 
and  coaxing  them  along.  They  must  learn  to 
act  independently,  and  you  may  as  well  begin 
with  them  at  the  beginning.  You  may  speak 
to  them,  if  you  please,  if  you  see  them  doing  any 


The  Drawing  School.  199 

Six  lessons.  Plan  for  the  patterns.  Second  set. 

thing  wrong,  especially  for  one  or  two  of  the 
first  lessons ;  but  the  sooner  you  begin  to  leave 
them  entirely  to  themselves,  for  the  whole  hour, 
the  better  it  will  be  for  them." 

"  Your  six  patterns,"  continued  Beechnut, 
"will  last  your  class  six  lessons,  that  is,  six 
weeks,  for  you  will  have  only  one  lesson  a 
week." 

"Why,  no,"  replied  Mary  Bell,  "for  there 
are  to  be  six  scholars,  and  so  all  the  six  patterns 
will  be  needed  the  first  day." 

"  That  is  true,"  replied  Beechnut,  "  but  by 
letting  the  class  change  them  among  each  other, 
they  will  all  have  a  new  pattern  the  second  day, 
and  so  on  for  six  days,  without  your  having  to 
draw  any  new  ones.  At  the  end  of  that  time, 
each  of  the  class  will  have  drawn  all  the  six 
patterns  which  you  made  at  first.  But  then  by 
that  time  you  will  have  been  able  to  draw  six 
more,  for  a  second  set,  by  drawing  half  an  hour 
at  the  beginning  of  every  lesson.  This  second 
set  will  be  much  more  advanced  than  the  first 
set,  for  you  will  have  had  half  an  hour  for  each 
one  of  the  patterns.  The  scholars  will  want  to 
begin  the  second  set  before  they  have  finished 
the  first,  but  you  must  not  allow  them  to  do  so. 
You  must  only  let  them  have  one  pattern  for 


200  Mary  Bell. 


Maiy  Bell  resolves  to  try.  Her  success. 

each  day,  and  require  them  to  take  pains  with 
it,  and  to  draw  it  as  well  as  they  possibly  can. 
Thus  the  first  set  of  lessons  will  last  six  weeks, 
and  the  second  set  six  weeks,  which  will  make 
twelve  weeks ;  and  that  is  as  long  as  the  class 
ought  to  be  continued." 

"  Well,"  said  Mary  Bell,  when  Beechnut 
paused, — "  I  am  sure  that  the  plan  is  a  very 
good  one." 

"  And  it  is  very  easily  executed,"  said  Beech- 
nut. "  If  you  will  carry  it  straight  through,  just 
as  I  have  planned  it  for  you,  you  will  have  a  fine 
class  ;  and  they  will  learn  a  great  deal  about 
drawing." 

"  I  don't  think  that  I  shall  succeed  very  well," 
said  Mary  Bell,  "  but  I  mean  to  try." 

Mary  Bell  did  try,  and  she  succeeded  admira- 
bly well.  She  encountered,  it  is  true,  various 
difficulties,  many  of  which  were  entirely  un- 
foreseen ;  but  as  she  was  patient  and  persever- 
ing, and  also  very  firm  and  decided,  as  well  as 
good-natured  and  gentle,  she  overcame  all  the 
obstacles  that  appeared  in  the  way,  and  the 
class  went  on  in  a  very  pleasant  and  prosperous 
manner.  The  lessons  continued  during  the 
whole  twelve  weeks.     The  children  understood 


The  Drawing  School.  201 

The  parents  of  her  pupils  pleased.  The  parcel. 

that  the  drawings  that  they  made  all  belonged 
to  Mary  Bell,  to  be  disposed  of,  at  the  end  of  the 
class,  just  as  she  should  please ;  and  thus  they 
all  took  great  pains  with  every  lesson.  Mary 
Bell  concluded,  on  the  whole,  however,  at  the 
end  of  the  course,  to  give  back  the  drawings  to 
the  pupils  themselves  again.  So  she  numbered 
them  all  in  order,  and  put  them  up  in  neat 
envelopes,  and  gave  each  one  her  own  set  to 
carry  home  and  show  to  her  father  and  mother. 
The  parents  were  all  very  much  surprised  in- 
deed to  see  what  excellent  progress  the  children 
had  made. 

In  fact,  Mary  Bell  received,  about  two  weeks 
after  the  close  of  her  class,  a  proof  of  the  value 
which  the  parents  of  her  pupils  attached  to  the 
instructions  that  she  had  given  them,  which 
afforded  her  a  great  gratification.  She  had 
been  out  one  afternoon  just  before  tea,  to  take 
a  walk.  It  was  a  cold  but  still  day  in  Decem- 
ber. When  she  came  in,  she  went  up  stairs  to 
put  away  her  bonnet  and  cloak.  She  found 
her  mother  up  stairs,  sitting  by  a  fire  in  one  of 
the  chambers.  Her  mother  asked  her  if  she 
had  found  her  parcel.  Mary  Bell  asked  what 
parcel.     Her  mother  told  her  that  there  was  a 


202  Mary  Bell. 


Mrs.  Bell's  description  of  the  parcel.  Mary  Bell  opens  it 

parcel  for  her  down  in  the  sitting-room.  Phon- 
ny  had  left  it  there  for  her,  she  said. 

"  What  is  it  ?"  asked  Mary  Bell. 

"  I  do  not  know,"  replied  her  mother.  "  Phon- 
ny  just  came  to  the  door  and  said  that  there 
was  something  for  you,  and  then  he  went  di- 
rectly away  again." 

"How  big  is  the  parcel?"  asked  Mary 
Bell. 

"  Not  very  large,"  replied  her  mother.  "  It 
feels  pretty  hard,  but  it  is  not  very  heavy." 

"  I  mean  to  go  down,"  said  Mary  Bell,  "  and 
see  what  it  is." 

So  saying,  she  ran  down  stairs  in  search  of 
her  parcel. 

She  found,  on  opening  it,  that  the  article 
within,  whatever  it  might  be,  was  very  care- 
fully put  up  in  several  envelopes,  one  within 
the  other.  The  innermost  of  these  envelopes 
was  formed  of  a  very  delicate  and  white  kind 
of  paper,  called  silk  paper,  on  removing  which 
there  appeared  to  view  a  beautiful  little  silver 
tumbler,  very  elegant  in  its  form,  and  highly 
ornamented  with  engraved  borders  and  designs. 
On  examining  these  engravings,  Mary  Bell  was 
equally  astonished  and  delighted.  At  the  top 
there  was  a  beautiful  wreath  of  flowers  passing 


The  Drawing  School.  203 

Description  of  the  silver  tumbler.  Engraved  ornaments. 

entirely  around  the  margin,  except  that  on  one 
side  there  was  an  open  space,  in  the  middle  of 
which  there  was  carved  in  ornamented  letters 
the  name  Mary  Bell.  Below  this  there  was  a 
series  of  six  small  landscapes  extending  around 
the  tumbler,  in  the  center  of  it,  which,  on  ex- 
amination, Mary  Bell  found  to  be  the  very 
landscapes  which  she  had  drawn  for  her  class 
for  their  first  set  of  lessons,  only  now,  being 
elegantly  cut  in  the  silver,  they  appeared  ex- 
tremely beautiful.  Below  these  landscapes,  and 
passing  round  the  tumbler,  near  the  bottom, 
was  another  double  wreath  of  flowers,  or  rather 
two  connected  wreaths,  the  lower  one  of  which 
hung  in  six  festoons,  leaving  six  small  spaces, 
in  which  the  names  of  Mary  Bell's  pupils  were 
inserted  in  small  and  delicate  letters.  These 
names  were  Alphonzo,  William,  Augusta,  Em- 
ma, Lucy,  and  Malleville. 

Within  the  tumbler  was  a  little  slip  of  paper, 
on  which  was  written : 

"  From  the  parents  of  Mary  Bell's  pupils  in 
Drawing." 

Mary  Bell  liked  her  tumbler  very  much 
indeed;  she,  however,  told  her  mother  that 
she  thought  Beechnut  deserved  it  more  than 
she. 


204  Mary    Bell. 

Mary  Bell  shews  her  present  to  Beechnut. 

"  Why  ?"  asked  her  mother. 

"Because,"  said  Mary  Bell,  "the  drawing 
class  was  his  plan,  and  he  contrived  all  the  ar- 
rangements for  me,  and  told  me  exactly  what 
to  do." 

"  Then  I  think,"  replied  her  mother,  "  that 
you  had  better  show  your  silver  tumbler  to  him, 
that  he  may  see  what  a  beautiful  present  he  was 
the  means  of  procuring  for  you." 

Mary  Bell  did  accordingly  carry  the  silver 
tumbler,  and  show  it  to  Beechnut  the  next  day. 
Beechnut  was  very  much  pleased  to  see  it.  It 
gave  him,  in  fact,  a  double  pleasure.  He  was 
glad,  in  the  first  place,  that  Mary  Bell  had  re- 
ceived such  a  present,  and  then  he  was  still 
more  gratified  at  her  coming  to  show  it  to  him. 


THE      END. 


